A Roman Wall is shown on an unpublished map of Roman topography in CAT archives.

An evaluation commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Security to assess any archaeological remains in advance of a proposed extension to the Job Centre at No 2 St John's Lane was undertaken in the car park during June 1992. The site code was 2SJL92.

A single trench, measuring 4.00m northeast-southwest by 2.00m northwest-southeast, and located approximately halfway between nos 2 and 19 St John's Lane, was excavated. The trench was set back from the street by approximately 6.50m. The uppermost deposits (modern wall foundations, ground make-up and immediate soil layers below) were excavated by machine. At a depth of approximately 2.05m below ground level, and beneath the upper deposits of soil, a horizon of truncated archaeological features and layers was discovered; excavation by machine did not proceed below this level, with the lowest deposits excavated by hand. Natural brickearth was exposed over most of the excavated area. At the south-west end of the trench safety considerations prevented the full excavation of a large pit (at 3.90m below the modern ground surface, this pit was the deepest feature excavated).

The top surface of natural brickearth was exposed 2.90m below the existing car park at 11.48m OD. Within the natural subsoil a shallow depression was observed at the north-east end of the trench: filling the depression and covering the subsoil south-west of it was a deposit of clay loam; within the deposit was small quantities of carbon flecks, small pebbles, daub (9 pieces) and ceramic sherds (20 sherds of flint-tempered pottery dated to c. 850/750-600 BC). The shallow depression was interpreted as either man-made or an undulation in the natural brickearth; the presence of daub and pottery sherds within the clay loam deposit was interpreted as indicative of occupation dating to c.850/750-600 BC (period of transition between the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age).

Taking up most of the south-west half of the trench was part of the large pit mentioned above, measuring 1.60m northeast-southwest by 1.30m southeast-northwest. Only a short length of the north-east side of the pit and truncated parts of the east corner and the south-east side were within the area of excavation and considerations of safety prevented excavation below a depth of 10.45m OD. The pit cut through the deposit of clay loam below it and was filled with redeposited brickearth and above this the remainder of the pit was filled with laminated 'bands' of silt loam. Contained within the fills of the pit were thirty six pieces of pottery (dated mainly to the mid 2nd-3rd centuries AD), three pieces of Roman tile, one piece of imbrex tile, two pieces of stone, one piece of slag and animal bone. The redeposited brickearth was interpreted as having been formed by a collapse of the sides of the trench, which suggested that the pit was not immediately backfilled while its bottom did not lie far below the deepest point of excavation. The 'banded' nature of the silt loam deposits suggested that the pit was periodically filled with mainly redeposited loams (containing material interpreted as probably derived from domestic waste and Roman building rubble). The pit had also been truncated, prior to the formation of a layer of homogeneously mixed loam, which sealed the pit (this layer was interpreted as being formed by agricultural or horticultural activities which may have caused this truncation). The original use of the pit was postulated (based on nearby earlier archaeological work) that it was cut for the extraction of clay.

The ceramic dating evidence retrieved from the fills of the pit and the layer of loam above it indicated that these phases of discrete activity occurred before the third century AD. It was also concluded that the area of the evaluation trench lay within open ground until the third century AD; this conclusion was partially based on evidence from an earlier excavation <ref 30>, which suggested that the area north-west of a major Roman road (aligned south-west to north-east and known to be in existence by the early second century AD) was open ground at the location of the evaluation area until the late second or third century AD.

Cutting the layer of loam that sealed the large pit was a small truncated feature, interpreted as a possible post pit; this was filled with a clay loam containing quantities of carbon flecks and oyster shell fragments and interpreted as backfilled redeposited loamy soil. A layer of silt loam covered this pit and contained six pieces of Roman tile, one piece of imbrex tile, one piece of tegular tile, one piece of Roman wall plaster and two pieces of mortar. This layer of loam was interpreted as having been formed by agricultural or horticultural practices.

Unknown, Unpublished map of Roman Canterbury (Cartographic materials). SKE30650.

Rady, J., 1987, Marlow Avenue and St John's Lane Sites (Monograph). SKE30486.

Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1992, An Archaeological Evaluation at 2 St John's Lane, Canterbury (Excavation archive). SKE30487.