Between September and November 1981 The Canterbury Archaeological Trust excavated on open ground located between 2 and 3 Marlowe Avenue. The work was undertaken prior to redevelopment. The sitecode was MAV181.
The excavation located a major Roman Street, running NE/SWn the NW side of the excavated area. The road appeared to have had six phases of metalling and had a life span running from the the first to the fourth, or even, fifth century.

Sealing the Roman was a 15cm thick deposit of black loam, possibly representing an abandonment deposit post-dating the Roman occupation and pre-dating the Saxon resettlement. No sign of Saxon settlement was seen in the excavation, but these may have been removed by later disturbance, mostly a number of rubbish pits dating to the Medieval period. The nature of the pits may even mean they were actually dug to extract gravel.

Although Marlowe Avenue has existed as a road from at least the 12th century no trace of Medieval to 19th century buildings were seen during the excavation and pits continued to be dug until the c. 17th century. This strongly suggests the area was open during this period, probably for agricultural purposes.

An horizon containing scattered peg-tiles was fuond to seal the agricultural deposits and may possibly represent the demolition of nearby buildings. Eventually the area came into use as a garden, and a number of late and post-Medieval cess pits were dug, including a fine brick example from the 17/18th century. The cess pit was eventually backfilled in 19th century.

Rady, J., 1982, 2-3a Marlowe Arcade (Article in serial). SKE30707.

Andrews, G., 1985, The Archaeology of Canterbury: An Assessment (Unpublished document).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