An evaluation was commissioned by Kent County Constabulary preceding the proposed development at the main Police Station, Canterbury. The evaluation was undertaken in November 1997 and the site code was CPS97. 5 evaluation trenches were excavated, two were within the grounds of the police station and the remaining three within the grounds of an adjacent property.

The evaluation showed that occupation has occurred on the site from at least the Roman period through into the Medieval and it is even possible that, below the Roman, earlier remains may still survive. This occupation is very shallow towards the north of the site, fanking Old Dover Road, so that within trenches 2, 3 and 4 archaeological horizons lie as shallow as 0.5m below the present ground surface.

Trenches 2, 3 and 4 indicate a form of 'ribbon' development of Roman occupation along the Old Dover Road. The presence of a possible trackway or holloway adjacent to Roman Watling Street is interesting. It may represent a track leading into an area of quarrying. It is also likely that the areas of possible cobbled surface identified within 3 and 4 were also related to this general process of activity or perhaps may constitute the tail edges of the gravel surface of Watling Street itself.

A total of 352 sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from the evaluation, many of which came from contexts also containing post-Roman material. No material was found suggesting pre-conquest activity and there was a marked scarcity of aterial relating to the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. The largest proportion of the material ranges from late first to early second centuries.

Hicks, A., 1997, Canterbury Police Station, Old Dover Road, Canterbury (Excavation archive). SKE30802.