Between 1946 and 1948 five trenches were dug by The Canterbury Excavation Committee in the yard of the Rose Hotel (now the rear of 6-6A Rose Lane).
The excavations uncovered part of a masonry building probably erected at the beginning of the third century on the site of a late first or early second-century building. The buildings were covered by thick deposits of late or sub-Roman 'dark earth' yielding much late fourth century pottery. The only evidence for Anglo-Saxon occupation in this area was a Jutish sherd from trench RY IA.

A number of intersecting medieval pits containing quantities late 12th century pottery were revealed, also the foundations of a medieval cellar to a building was revealed under the wall of one of the later cellars on the site. Close by a further group of medieval pits was found, leading to a valuable series of medieval pottery dating from the late 11th to the early 13th century.

Above these were thick deposits of dark soil containing post-Medieval pottery; into this rubbish pits had been dug, full of pottery presumably thrown out from the Rose Hotel, ranging in date from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The pits also contained a quantity of glass bottles and wine glasses.

Frere, S., 1947, Preliminary Report on the Christmas Excavations (Monograph). SKE30142.

Andrews, G., 1985, The Archaeology of Canterbury: An Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE30429.

Blockley, K., Blockley, M., Blockley, P., Frere, S. and Stow, S., 1995, Excavations in the Marlowe Car Park and Surrounding Areas. Part 1: The Excavated Sites (Monograph). SKE29969.