Between 1955 and 1958 A. D. Saunders, of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works undertook excavations on the west end of the Abbey Church of St Augustine's Abbey. Smaller scale excavations were also undertaken on the pre-Conquest church of St Peter and St Paul. The need for the excavations in 1955 arose unexpectedly out of routine consolidation of the upstanding remains when there were discovered by chance the voussoirs of an arch a few inches below ground level in the ill defined mass of masonry a the extreme SW corner of the Norman Church.

The earliest feature was a flat bottomed gully, possibly a Roman timber sill, in trench IX, located under the NW Norman Tower. Apart from this no Romano-British structural evidence was uncovered. Evidence was found across the area for quarrying activity in the Roman period. Ground levels had then been built up, in the late 3rd century, with a loamy soil containing occupation debris such as pottery, building material and personal ornaments.

Rand, H. M., 1959, St Augustine's Abbey: Latest Finds (Serial). SKE30311.

Saunders, A. D., 1978, Excavations in the Church of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 1955-8 (Article in serial). SKE30312.