The Canterbury Archaeological Trust began excavations on the site of 36-37 Stour Street prior to the building of new housing. The site code was SS86 and the site consisted of two trenches, A and B.
Trench A was dug adjacent to the river front and reached a depth of 4.7m. 2.5m of this was below water level. The lowest levels seen were a metre of peat yielding much Belgic pottery and early First century Roman imported pottery. Rammed gravel metalling of Roman Watling Street sealed the peat, the road was flanked by drains, the latest wooden examples being perfectly preserved. On the north side of the road over a metre of Roman stratigraphy survived including dump deposits and evidence for timber framed buildings. A late masonry wall and an associate courtyard were also found, indicating the presence of a Roman town house. Flood deposits sealed the Roman layers.

A wooden drain associated with the road was well-preserve in anaerobic conditions. Artefacts associated with the drains included pottery, coins, fragments of leather including one inscribed with cursive lettering, alongside the preserved sole of a hob-nailed boot dating from the Roman period.

Trench B was dug on the Stour Street frontage and immediately beneath the modern concrete cellar late Roman deposits, including the gravel metallings of a NW to SW aligned street. A masonry wall, associated with a previously unknown Roman building, survives on the east side of the street. This may be the wall of a portico or covered walkway, fronting onto a building underlying present-day Stour Street. Also seen were a later sewer of tile and masony which was constructed against the wall. To the south of the Roman street the remains of at least two other Roman structures were seen, the earliest probably timber built and probably industrial as a large furnace was found in association. Flood deposits again seal the Roman levels.

The extent of the building revealed suggests that the original plot of the Roman road alignment must be wrong.

<1> Rady, J., 1987, Nos 36-37 Stour Street (Article in serial). SKE30711.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1873, 1st edition map of Canterbury 1873 (Map). SKE30447.