Between March and June 1995 The Canterbury Archaeological Trust excavated on open ground within the precincts of St Augustine's Abbey, now part of Christ Church College. The site was immedately north of North Holmes Road and was orchard prior to the creation of the college in 1960s. The work was funded by Christ Church College and the sitecode CCC95.

Two trenches were opened, A and B, sited where new buildings were to be built. Trench A was excavated to the natural brickearth whilst Trench B was taken down to the top of significant archaeological deposits. The earliest archaeolgy encountered was undated post holes and shallow linear features tentatively associated with flints and pottery dating to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age and indicating settlement activity. The only Roman feature seen was a fresh water conduit which crossed the site from east to west, the method of construction and materials used suggested a 2nd century date of use.

"Romano - British material and features have been less forthcoming despite the proximity of the area to the intra-mural town in the west, the Richborough road in the south, and a settlement in the east which appears to extend from the road to the area now occupied by St Martin’s Church and St Martin’s Avenue. The main feature of interest is a length of drain constructed of bonded tile and brick, and lined with opus signinum mortar, which cuts across the northern region of the college campus… the Roman brick and tile used in the construction of the drain… represent important additions to the local corpus of fabric types" (2)

"A total of 481 fragments weighing 845.570kg was retrieved from 12 years of excavation at CCCUC. Virtually the entire assemblage is of Roman date, retrieved from the excavation of Site 16. The bulk of the material consists of bricks used to form the capping and base of a water channel .
The assemblage consists of fragmentary and complete examples of Bessales, Pedales and Lydion bricks; these have been kept for further study." (2 and 3)

39 sherds of Roman pottery found. No further information on pottery or context. (2 and 3)

Jarman, C., 1997, Christ Church College (Article in serial). SKE30357.

<2> Hicks, Martin and Houliston, Mark, 1999, Archaeological Excavations at Canterbury Christ Church College. Assessment report on excavations conducted between 1983-1996 (Unpublished document). SKE31574.

<3> Hicks, Martin, 1996, Archaeological Excavations at Canterbury Christ Church College. Assessment Report on Excavations conducted between 1983-1995 (Unpublished document). SKE31570.