In 2010 Museum of London Archaeology carried out an evaluation. A settlement appears to have existed on the site from the Late Iron Age into the Roman period. At least one sunken featured building was found along with numerous post holes. A large enclosure or boundary ditch crossed the site and is thought to be related to this period of activity. The settlement appears to have fallen into disuse during the late 2nd century, the large ditch having silted up by the middle of the 3rd century. An inhumation was found and, due to the presence of an iron nail, thought to this period of activity on the site. (1)

The site was further investigated through an archaeological excavation in 2010/2011 this revealed further evidence for Late Iron Age and Roman activity in the area. This produced further evidence and refined the dating for the activity described above. In detail: there is little evidence for Late Iron Age activity and The Mid-Late Iron Age (200-50BC) pottery appears to be almost entirely residual within Roman-British contexts. In detail: There was clear evidence for land-division and enclosure ditches associated with the Romano-British settlement. The earliest of these was a curving ditch entering the site from the west and ending at a shallow terminus, defining an enclosure to its north. Dating evidence comprised a small assemblage of pottery dated to 100BC-120AD. This was replaced by a new system of Ditches, the principal component of which entered the site from the north and extended over about 75% of the site extent before turning at an approximate right angle to leave the site to the west. It defines an enclosure to its west. It was one component of a wider system of ditches. Enclosure 4 was apparently subdivided by east–west aligned shallow gully containing two postholes. Pottery from the single fill is dated to the Romano-British period. Two north–south aligned ditches ran south from the east–west aligned ditch. The eastern of these was longer and deeper than its neighbour. The two ditches were parallel and close together and it is likely that one replaced the other. Both terminated close to building SFB 7 and there is a clear implication that they were contemporary with it and may be dated to AD70–300. The most significant boundary feature on the site, north–south aligned ditch lay to the east of the enclosures discussed so far. It extended beyond the site in both its cardinal directions. The disposition of Romano-British activity on the site, almost exclusively to the west of this ditch strongly suggests that this ditch was the eastern boundary of the settlement. Only one primary fill provided a broad date of 40–400AD finds from final fills indicated that the ditch is likely to have fallen out of use in the mid–late 3rd century AD, at the same time as the settlement to the west was abandoned. Finally, a discontinuous L-shaped ditch segment ran westwards from a terminal immediately east of Structure 20 before turning to the south but was truncated by both SFB 5 and SFB 6 and must belong to an earlier phase of Romano-British occupation than these buildings.

An important aspect of the Romano-British settlement on the site is the presence of Romano British sunken featured buildings. The morphology of these buildings ishighly variable and this was reflected by those excavated at Tothill Street. There is insufficient data to determine detailed function but it is already possible to distinguish between primary (SFB 5, 6 and 7) and ancillary (SFB 3, 8, 9) buildings. The distinction between habitation (primary) and industrial /functional (ancillary) is less obvious in the cases of SFBs 1 and 2. The buildings fall into two sets. Buildings 2, 3, 7 and 10 could function with any phase of the enclosure systems described above. Buildings 1, 5, and 6 all apparently postdate an element of the enclosure system: perhaps most significantly, SFB 1 post-dates major north–south boundary ditch. Buildings 8 and 9 are technically part of the first set but are very likely to be satellites of Building 6 (or possibly Building 5) and are therefore more properly considered with the second set. Sunken Featured Buildings 5 and 6, with their satellites SFBs 8 and 9, represent a dominant cluster within the sample of the settlement lying within the excavated area. Considering the extensive evidence for Romano-British settlement and intense occupation, at least in the later 2nd – early 3rd century AD, there is relatively little evidence for external features. There were a large storage pits in the western part of the site and a probable quarry north of SFB7. Several graves were also identified (TQ 36 NW 1293). (Information summarised from source) (2)

One of the north-south boundaries of Roman date described above was visible as a cropmark in RAF/541/508 RS 4064 22-APR-1950. It measured about 225m long, of which just over 90m was recorded in the investigations outlined by authority (2). This feature was mapped as part of the Historic England Isle of Thanet project in 2024. (3)

<1> Museum of London Archaeology, 2010, Land Fronting Tothill Street, Mount Pleasant, Minster in Thanet, County of Kent: Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE18228.

<2> Museum of London Archaeology, 2012, Archaeological post-excavation assessment: Land fronting Tothill Street, Minster, County of Kent (Unpublished document). SKE31188.

<3> Historic England Archive, 1941-1960, Historic England Archive RAF vertical aerial photographs, RAF/541/508 RS 4064 22-APR-1950 (Archive). SKE57101.