An evaluation was commissioned to assess any surviving archaeological remains in advance of the proposed redevelopment of the former East Kent Road Car Company depot for residential development. The evaluation area was centred on the depot, located between Kirby's Lane and North Lane (TR 146 583). The evaluation was undertaken in July, 1993 and the site code was KL93.

Six trenches were excavated mechanically and each measured 10m approximately in length.

In trench A, the earliest archaeological activity observed was a small shallow pit that cut through the natural brickearth. The pit contained a single Roman pottery sherd of late second century AD date. A thick layer of grey clay loam sealed this pit and was interpreted as a top soil.

In trench C, a Roman road was located at + 9.40m OD/0.90m below the existing ground surface, with an exposed width of 1.70m from the edge of the road to the end of trench C. The road was constructed of rammed gravel and was aligned north-west to south-west. Its south-eastern edge was located in this trench as well as in trench F (see below). Pottery recovered from the road's surface was dated from the late second century AD. A thick deposit of silty clay build-up was found above the road and contained pottery that was dated from the late second to early third century AD. At the North Lane end of the trench, the remains of a ditch aligned east-west was exposed, with only a part of one side surviving. This was interpreted as a probable road drain, perhaps associated with an earlier road surface.
A large clay extraction pit cut through the ditch and also the deposits above the road. Its fills consisted of gravel, sand and brickearth deposits similar to those seen in trench B. This pit was interpreted as providing clay for the Roman pottery kilns located in excavations at nos 16-21, North Lane in 1978. A small post and a pit cut into this pit (seen in section only). These were sealed by a dark topsoil deposit and this in turn was sealed by modern levelling deposits.

In trench F, a ditch was discovered which cut into the natural gravel and had a width of 1.50m. This ditch was backfilled with 'Belgic' pottery dateable to the early first century AD. The ditch was discovered within the north-east corner of the evaluated area at a depth of 1.70m below the existing ground surface. The discovery of this ditch was considered to be significant, as it was the first feature to be discovered in the area of Canterbury covered by the evaluation that was of pre-Roman date. Several brickearth deposits appeared towards the north-west end of the trench as silty clay layers.
These layers sealed the 'Belgic' ditch and were considered to be associated with the Roman road (see trench C above). Pottery from one of these layers was dated to the late second century AD. The Roman road was built on one of the layers but only one side was seen; the exposed width of the road was 4.50m. Sealing the road were thick silty clay deposits, similar to those seen in trench C. Two large pits were found, which cut into the layers sealing the 'Belgic' ditch, but contained no dateable evidence. A dark topsoil layer sealed these pits and was in turn sealed by modern levelling deposits.

Probably the most important discovery was of a previously unknown north-east to south-west aligned early Roman street. It was noted that this street may have been part of a road grid network for an early Roman settlement (the first Canterbury?), which was abandoned early in the second century AD in favour of a site east of the river Stour. After the second century, the site of this settlement may have been progessively used for industrial purposes and burial practices.

Shand, G., 1993, An Evaluation of the East Kent Road Car Company Site, North Lane, Canterbury. (Excavation archive). SKE30490.

Shand, G., 1993, Archaeological Evaluation at the East Kent Road Car Company (Excavation archive). SKE30489.