The most significant discovery was a collection of fifty-four waste pits dating from the mid eigth to the mid late ninth centuries. Generally these pits contained layers dense in iron slag, hammerscale, fired clay, and carbon interleaved with deposits rich in finds more typical of domestic occupation, such as animal bone, pottery, pins, buckles, beads, combs, knives and querns. Evidence of small scale craft production was also retrieved. Pottery and a coin dated to C. AD 730-40. The discovery represents the most substantive evidence so far uncovered for the existence of an extra-mural settlement at Canterbury of mid Anglo-Saxon date. A short segment of ditch was also found dating to 575-725 AD. The fill was similar to that found within the later pits and contained iron working debris and animal bone fragments, tentatively placing the origin of the settlement in the late sixth or seventh centuries. The substantial evidence for ironworking suggests that the primary purpose of the settlement may have been production rather than trade. The excavation recovered copious amounts of iron slag, evidence for iron smelting, and large quatities of hammer scale, evidence for smithing. The latter was retrieved by seiving the fills of the waste pits through a fine mesh. Two bars and thirty two strips of iron were also recovered, further evidence that ferrous metal working was being undertaken. No structural evidence such as post pits survived the later truncation of the area. The excavation produced no evidence of activity contemporary with either late Anglo-Saxon or Norman developments at the abbey.

"Anglo - Saxon occupation in the area appears to have had its origins in the early seventh century, though it may predate the arrival of Augustine and his mission. Material dating to the seventh century has been produced, but it is not until the period A.D. 750 to 850 that substantial, and wide spread, occupation is revealed. Evidence is spread across most of the campus area, having been found on all seventeen sites; to date at least one hundred and fifty waste pits of the period have been identified. The pits contain the evidence for large scale iron working and other craft activities, but also for domestic occupation, an indication that habitation accompanied the industrial activities undertaken at the site. The settlement appears similar to those at Barking (Webster and Bakehouse 1991:88-94), Brandon (Suffolk) (Carr et al. 1988), and Jarrow (Cramp 1969), where monastic involvement in production and trade has been identified. At St Augustine’s this involvement is reinforced by evidence from one of the early charters associated with the Abbey (Kelly 1995, no. 8)." (2)

991 pottery sherds were found in pits, including Middle Saxon Canterbury Sandy Ware and Ipswich ware. (2)

"Forty per cent (some 900 sherds) of the sandy ware assemblage comes from Site 17 and most of this from rubbish pits of Phase 2, probably dating to c. AD 750-850. This complex of pits, for which full stratigraphic information is available, is undoubtedly of prime importance to the study of Middle Saxon pottery in the city. The pits produced a surprising number of complete or near-complete pottery profiles. Metalwork and other finds from the pits may, when properly studied, assist in refining the date of the pottery. It is particularly fortunate too that one pit produced a silver sceat of c. 730-40." (2)

"One pit on Site 17 produced an almost complete profile of an exceptional jar or spouted pitcher with trellis burnishing and sherds of at least two other vessels with trellis burnishing also came from the same pit complex… Significantly, sherds of Ipswich ware were also associated with... a sceat of c. 730-40" (2)

"One other sherd from Site 17 represents the rim of an oxidised and burnished North French spouted pitcher, also of Carolingian date" (2)

"In general terms, glass is a rare commodity at Christ Church University College, and all of the six vessel fragments of Middle Saxon date were recovered from the sieving programme on Site 17. They include part of a greenish glass vessel with white trails, a pedestal base fragment which is intricately ribbed on the exterior and a naturally-coloured rim from a drinking vessel. The forms represented here correspond, in general terms, with those seen elsewhere during the Middle Saxon period (Hunter in Holdsworth 1980, 72; Evison in Cowie, Whytehead and Blackmore 1988, 119-24; Evison in Whytehead, Cowie and Blackmore 1989, 112-6; Hunter and Jackson in Rogers 1993, 1331-44)." (2)

"A small fragment of fine, twisted copper alloy wire from the fill of a Middle Saxon pit on Site 17 may also have formed part of a dress accessory, as a linking element in a pin suite." (2)

"A series of over twenty items, most of which are iron, appear to derive from one or more wooden boxes or caskets. They consist largely of small tacks (of copper alloy and silver, as well as iron), clips, staples, hinges and binding strips. These items are dispersed across several contexts from Site 17 and they will need to be studied as a group, in order to determine whether they stem from a single box or whether they were produced for a series of items of this type. Several retain wood residues. They are accompanied by a copper alloy staple and several small iron fittings from earlier excavations. Although considerable attention has been paid in the past to boxes or caskets and their fittings of seventh century date, scarcely any of Middle Saxon date have been published, other than those adorned with bone mounts (Speake 1989, 24-30; Evison 1987, 106; MacGregor 1985, 197-203)." (2)

"Anglo-Saxon textile implements are not particularly well-represented within the finds assemblage but they include small quantities of woolcomb teeth, pinbeaters, spindle-whorls and loomweights… Textile implements are usually sizeable objects, which are not generally enhanced by any sieving programmes. It is interesting to note, therefore, that virtually all of the textile implements from this site were retrieved during the Site 17 excavations, the only exceptions being two spindle-whorls. This does suggest that weaving took place in this general area, during the Middle Saxon period. The spinning of wool, however, may have been more broadly dispersed." (2)

"Several objects recovered from Phase 3 deposits on the 1996 excavations may conceivably be of late Saxon date, although they could also be residual Middle Saxon items. They include single examples of a pin shaft, a blade from a set of shears, a woolcomb tooth and a pivot hinge." (2)

"A complete example of a copper alloy page holder can be compared with similar objects from Northampton, Winchester and other sites. There is some debate about the dating and the function of these implements, which may be Anglo-Saxon or medieval. The likelihood is that they first occur in the Late Saxon period, and continue in use until the twelfth or thirteenth century. The Christ Church University College example came from a post-Dissolution context on Site 17, and it is clearly residual." (2)

An assemblage of metal working waste was found in pits:

6007 macro slags
303.7 kg (2)

"A considerable volume of ironworking debris was retrieved from the excavations conducted between 1983 and 1995. Broadly catalogued as slag, this material actually consists of a variety of industrial elements, which include smelting and smithing slag, cinder, hearth bottom, hearth lining and fuel ash slag, as well as hammerscale." (3)

"The evidence suggests that the settlement expanded throughout the eighth century to reach its zenith in ninth century. The college campus may lie on the perimeter of a large Anglo-Saxon settlement site called Nordholm, first referred to in 1283 and still represented by the modern North Holmes Road which forms the northern boundary to the college complex." (3)

A desk-based assessment of the site identified a large number of pits and linear features, some of which may be the 54 pits described above, or further evidence of Anglo-Saxon occupation. (4)

Houliston, M., 1998, Christ Church College (Article in serial). SKE30333.

<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.