During the erection of the Telephone Repeater Station at 27 St. Dunstan's Terrace between Dec 1925 and May 1926, a number of Roman cremations were observed by W. Whiting & W. hawley. These included two urns; a beaker; a goblet,; a plate and fragments of at least three other burials (1).

An evaluation was commissioned by CgMs in advance of the proposed development at no 27, St Dunstan's Terrace telephone repeater station). The evaluation was implemented in July and August 2000 and the site code was SDT00.

Five trenches, equalling 45m length in total and 1.6m wide, were excavated around the old telephone exchange at St Dunstans Terrace, the site of earlier finds during its construction in 1927. The area is within the limits of the known Roman cemetery and in total nine cremation burials were revealed, along with an inhumation. The state of preservation and the depths at which the burials were found varied in each case. The interments may have been bounded by a ditch, or sequence of ditches parallel to London Road, which is on a Roman road alignment.

A sequence of other Roman deposits and features was also revealed, including a possible metalled Roman lane at the SE extremity of the site. These earlier contexts were capped by what is likely to have been an agricultural soil, developed during protracted ploughing of the area in the post-Roman period. The evaluation suggested that there may be at least 200 individual cremation burials remaining on the site.(2)

Subsequent excavation found 23 inhumations and 93 cremation burials. Twenty of the inhumations were aligned E-W, the other three were positioned along E-W alignments. Grave goods and artefacts associated with the interments included pottery vessels, hob-nailed shoes, and coffin nails. Two of the burials were also associated with glass beads, some of which were polychrome, and two of which were melon beads.
Survival of human remains (with the exception of some teeth) and other organic material, including the coffin, was poor, with many interments represented by soil stains.

97 cremation burials are recorded from the site in total (including 5 from the earlier evaluation and watching brief). The majority of cremations were represented by a cinerary urn alongside one or more vessels. Two cremations were contained within wooden caskets, one was deposited within an amphora, and a number were also interred without ceramic vessels.
Grave goods associated with cremations at the site included vessels placed within the cinerary urns themselves - including one example which appeared to be a miniature of the urn within which it was placed. Other artefacts associated with the cremations included hobnails from caligae, a circular copper alloy mirror (which exhibited a design in the form of a concentric circle), a copper alloy brooch with blue enamel decoration, two fibula brooches, a wooden or copper alloy bowl, a wooden platter with copper alloy handles, two burnt wooden boxes - one with copper alloy fittings, a glass phial associated with one of the boxes, dishes, 2 jugs, beakers, flagons, two melon beadd, cremated animal remains, and a Venus figurine formed of pipe-clay. The figurine had been damaged with the head broken off and the feet missing, which may have resulted from damage prior to deposition. One of the cremation burials was potentially placed within a bag of cloth or leather.

Other features at the site thought to be associated with the Roman cemetery included an ENE-WSW aligned ditch (parallel to London Road), and large quantity of stake-holes interpreted as being associated with the cremation process. The ditch appeared to be around 38m in length, 2.5m in width, and 0.8m in depth, and is thought to have functioned as a southern boundary to the cemetery, as all interments and cremations were located to the north of this feature.
Finds associated with these features included two coins, one of which was a coin of Trajan, and dated between 103-111 AD.

There are several phases of burial at the site, the earliest dating from the late Iron Age or the Iron Age/Roman transitional period.

Prior to the use of the site as a cemetery, agricultural activity may have taken place during the Iron Age period (TR 15 NW 2746). There were a number of phases of mortuary activity, with some of the earlier inhumations and cremations potentially dating from the late Iron Age period. There was also a period representing a break in mortuary activity during which industrial processes and other activity may have taken place (TR 15 NW 2747). (3)

<1> Whiting, W., 1927, A Roman Cemetery at St Dunstan's, Canterbury (Serial). SKE30804.

<2> Rady, J., 2000, An Archaeological Evaluation at 27 St. Dunstans terrace, Canterbury (Telephone Repeater Station) (Excavation archive). SKE30805.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2003, St Dunstan’s Terrace, Canterbury Stratigraphic Report (Unpublished document). SKE54987.