A watching brief in 2004 was carried out on the machine-excavated foundations of a new building for Dodds Transport, at the northern end of Bonham Drive. It revealed evidence of Murstons Industrial Heritage.
The geology of the site consisted of a thick layer of Brickearth. The good quality Upper Brickearth had been quarried away, prior to the mid nineteenth century, leaving the poorer quality Lower Brickearth as the natural subsoil. This in turn had been subject to further secondary quarrying in the south east corner of the site, where a large sloping sided and flat bottomed feature, had been terraced into top of the Lower Brickearth. This secondary quarry terrace had been backfilled with a layer of large burnt clay fragments, which probably represent the remains of a previous clamp/kiln located in the immediate vicinity. The report suggests that the feature now acted as a firm consolidated platform, in an area of softer natural subsoil and perhaps as a layer of damp proofing or insulation pad for a newly constructed clamp/kiln that was built on top of it.
The remains of the heavily scorched floor of this new clamp/kiln occupied the entire south eastern corner of the proposed development and extended beyond its limits to the south and east. Despite this, some evidence of the outer limits of the clamp/kiln were exposed. It consisted of a strip of intensively burnt firm grey clay, interpreted as the outermost clay casing of the clamp/kiln. The report suggests that the clamp/kiln would have covered an area approx. 20.50m by 11.00m.
Within the limits of the kiln, the burnt clay fragments which had infilled the secondary quarrying terrace, had been exposed to the extreme heat of the new clamp/kiln. This had created a new hard clay burnt floor, onto which the stacks of wet (green) bricks had been placed, separated by a series of air circulation flues. These flues were visible as a sequence of firmer, paler stripes against the deep red/brown surface of the new clamp/kiln floor.
The report suggests that the kiln was reused on a number of occasions, due to the intensity of the burnt floor and the depth of the heat penetration into the burnt clay fragments of the terrace infill. One further piece of suggestive evidence for the reuse of the clamp/kiln was a small brick lined t-shaped channel, cut through the burnt floor. This was interpreted as an attempt to increase the airflow into part of the clamp/kiln, while the bricks themselves provided the only evidence for the suggested dating of the clamp/kiln. The bricks were dated to the early nineteenth century and were similar to bricks recorded in the layers sealing the clamp/kiln’s floor. Once it fell out of use the clamp/kiln was used as a dumping ground for waste material from another clamp/kiln in the vicinity.
The clamp/kiln represents one of the last generation of clamp/kilns prior to the creation of proper built solid kilns, similar to those identified to the northeast.
Above these layers the site had been raised and levelled with more recent dump material, to create a hard standing area for the Dodds Transport business. In the south western corner of the site a large modern cut feature was recorded, filled with large amounts of modern glass and scrap iron. The site was centred on the grid ref in the main monument form [1].

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2004, An archaeological watching brief during the construction of a warehouse and ancillary office at Dodds Transport, Bonham Drive, Eurolink Business Park, Sittingbourne, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12406.