An evaluation was commissioned by the Diocese of Canterbury to assess any archaeological remains in advance of the proposed development to the north of the existing Diocesan House. The evaluation was carried out during April and May, 1992 and the sitecode was DH92. A trench measuring 6.90m by 2.00m was excavated to a depth of 2.40m (natural brickearth): this was positioned at the very northern edge of the proposed development.

The earliest archaeological feature found was a drainage or boundary ditch which cut the natural brickearth. The ditch was sealed by a Roman topsoil layer, a mix of silty clay and disturbed natural brickearth, which contained chalk fragments (the chalk was interpreted as marl or fertiliser for the brickearth). The area was to be used later as a cremation and inhumation cemetery.

This interpretation was supported by the discovery of two skeletons (skeletons 1 and 2) within individual grave cuts and one other possible grave cut; two bowl-shaped cuts filled with deposits of carbon with one also containing human bone fragments was also found; a third large oval-shaped feature was filled with two deposits of carbon and ash (heavily compacted): this latter deposit of ash was interpreted as possible evidence for successive cremations found in the evaluation area. Three other archaeological features were found at this stratigraphic level: a massive pit located in the extreme eastern end of the evaluation trench but only excavated to a depth of 0.20m; a posthole located in the centre of the trench; and a heavily truncated rubbish pit found to the east of the grave cut containing skeleton 2.

Sealing all of these features was a layer of clay loam which was interpreted as a levelling layer laid down before the construction of a metalled surface (deposit of packed flints): this was interpreted as either a courtyard or a road (leading possibly from Sandwich through the Queningate).
Once this road became disused, a levelling deposit of clay loam was laid down, with one posthole cutting it. Also, an 'island' of stratigraphy was located in the north-west corner of the trench measuring 0.80m by 0.60m, but its function and relationship to the rest of the trench was difficult to determine.

Clark, P., 1992, Diocesan House Evaluation Excavation (Digital archive). SKE30794.