A watching brief focused on the excavation of a new relief drain running from St. Margaret's Mews to the Prior's Gate within the Precinct of Rochester Cathedral. It recorded three pits of probable Roman or Early Medieval date. They were observed at the northern end of the trench, at the base of the recorded deposits. Two were only visible in the western section of the trench and were perhaps associated with a buried topsoil layer. The third pit extended across the base of the trench. The northernmost pit was filled with a similar soil to the topsoil layer, the two other pits contained silty fills, one of which was interpreted as decomposed cess. The northernmost pit was devoid of finds, while the southern two contained oyster shell and bone. No pottery was recovered from the pits.
They were dated on the basis of their location just south of the fifteenth century Prior's Gate. In the opinion of the Alan Ward, as they were in front of this gate passage, they presumably pre-date the gate and its possible predecessor (of 13/14th century date?-see report and monument TQ 76 NW 74). He also suggests that the pits predate a possible twelfth century gate further north and are unlikely to be of iron age date, as he is unaware of any evidence for purposefully dug iron age cesspits. Therefore, he concludes that a Roman or Early Medieval date is most likely.
Part of the medieval wall (TQ 76 NW 357) and post medieval levelling layers (TQ 76 NW 358) were also recorded during the watching brief [1].

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2004, An Archaeological Watching Brief along the line of the Southern Water Relief Drain, St. Margaret's Street, Rochester (Unpublished document). SKE12420.