Between March and June 1995 The Canterbury Archaeological Trust excavated on open ground within the precincts of St Augustine's Abbey, now part of Christ Church College. The site was immedately north of North Holmes Road and was orchard prior to the creation of the college in 1960s. The work was funded by Christ Church College and the sitecode CCC95.

Two trenches were opened, A and B, sited where new buildings were to be built. Trench A was excavated to the natural brickearth whilst Trench B was taken down to the top of significant archaeological deposits. The earliest archaeology encountered was undated post holes and shallow linear features tentatively associated with flints and pottery dating to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age and indicating settlement and occupational activity. The only Roman feature seen was a fresh water conduit which crossed the site from east to west, the method of construction and materials used suggested a 2nd century date of use.

371 worked flints included:
315 flakes
13 blade-like flakes
11 scrapers
9 cores and core-fragments
6 'chunks'
6 ?retouched flakes
4 chips
3 blades
2 ?piercers
1 ?axe fragment
1 borer (2)

Neolithic pottery found in pit 37 (2 and 3).

An archaeological desk based assessment identified map-based evidence for prehistoric features at the site - probably representing the features discussed above. (4)

<1> Jarman, C., 1997, Christ Church College (Article in serial). SKE30357.

<2> Hicks, Martin and Houliston, Mark, 1999, Archaeological Excavations at Canterbury Christ Church College. Assessment report on excavations conducted between 1983-1996 (Unpublished document). SKE31574.

<3> Hicks, Martin, 1996, Archaeological Excavations at Canterbury Christ Church College. Assessment Report on Excavations conducted between 1983-1995 (Unpublished document). SKE31570.

<4> Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd., 2016, Site of the Proposed New Arts Building, Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury, CT1 1QU. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE55766.