A watching brief during trenching for a new relief drain running from St. Margaret's Mews to the Prior's Gate, observed a series of postmedieval levelling layers interspersed with patches of flint cobbled surfaces.
At the north end of the trench three layers of flint cobbled surface were recorded overlaying one another. All of these surfaces contained brick fragments crushed into their matrix. A sequence of deposits in turn overlayed these surfaces, many of which contained brick and peg tile fragments, as well as part of the stem of a post-medieval clay pipe. A similar sequence was recorded along the whole length of the trench. The cobbled surfaces at the southern end of the trench contained worn ragstone cobbles, which may have been reused. Another post medieval clay pipe stem was recorded from the base of the deposits at the southern end of the trench. Other surface deposits consisted of gravel 'road surfaces'. Nearly all contained brick fragments within their matrix.
All of the brick fragments were either post medieval or early modern in date, while the deposits were collectively interpreted as being build up or levelling deposits. No medieval road surfaces were observed in the trench and the layers also covered the robbed out remains of the medieval town/precinct wall. This wall is still in place in a print of 1719, which supports the later post medieval date of the deposits.
The report suggests that at some point in the eighteenth century (after 1719), a decision was taken to create an access to Prior's Gate at this point in the town/precinct wall (see the report for a discussion on the evidence for an earlier entrance in this area and TQ 76 NW 357 ). It is hypothesised that the presence of the town/precinct wall had created a disparity in ground levels on either side of the wall. On one side road deposits had built up along St. Margaret's Street, in contrast to the lower ground level within the town/precinct wall. To overcome this, the report suggests that a uniform slope was created leading down from the new entrance to the Prior's Gate. This involved digging up the old medieval road surfaces within the wall and truncating the land down to natural deposits (exposing the probable Roman or Early Medieval pits), before building the ground up, through the levelling and build up layers observed, to the new entrance in the town/precinct wall. These layers presumably included reused parts of the old medieval road surfaces (the flint and ragstone cobble surfaces?).
As stated above, probable Roman or Early Medieval pits (TQ 76 NW 356) and fragments of the medieval town wall (TQ 76 NW 357) were also observed 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.