In 2010 Canterbury Archaeological Trust carried out an evaluation at the site of 149-156 Snargate Street. Deposits were found relating to dumped material overlying beach shingle, dating from the 17th or 18th century when the area was first developed as part of the expansion of Dover town. Remains of buildings were found, again of 17th or 18th century date, though truncated by later 19th century structures, one of which was probably the Invicta public house. (1)

Further test trenching was carried out by Canterbury Archaeological Trust at the site in 2014, this work uncovered cellars associated with no. 149, 150, 152, 153, 154 and 155 Snargate Street. These cellars were between 1.5m and 2m deep and had been infilled. A number of post medieval walls were also located. Geotechnical boreholes excavated in March 2014 during a watching brief by Canterbury Archaeological Trust revealed the 19th century cellars at the site in greater detail. (2)

A third and final stage of archaeological investigation was undertaken at the site between January and March in 2016 by PCA. This work revealed further information about the properties which formerly fronted onto Snargate Street in this location in the post medieval period, including information about Nos 154 and 155 Snargate Street. The first phase of occupation of this site dates to the 17th and 18th century and a number of features from this period were noted. These included a cut that was filled by surface make-up deposits, the remains of an internal wall, and a compacted clay floor. The wall was aligned northwest to southeast and consisted of one course of chalk blocks set in an orange brown sandy clay matrix. These blocks had a maximum measurement of 200mm x 150mm x 150mm. In total the wall was 1.7m long by 0.5m wide and 0.5m in height. These were located in the west of the property on what would the ground floor. It is uncertain whether this property had a basement during this phase.

Another, smaller trench (trench 4) was excavated towards the rear of No. 155 Snargate Street. Investigation in this area revealed two separate walls, a posthole and a series of surface make-up deposits and a metalled surface. The earliest structure was a wall which combined the western face of a wall and its core/packing. It comprised roughly hewn stone fragments with occasional brick, 1m long x 0.24m wide x 0.3m high. Spot dates from the mortar and brick sample gave a date between 1600 and 1900. The inner core consisted of compacted crushed chalk fragments that were 1m long and 0.46m wide. The wall lay on a northeast to southwest orientation with a high point of 5.34m OD and an overall thickness of 0.7m. This wall appears to have fallen out of use and was demolished and covered with a series of make-up/levelling deposits, prior to the construction of the later walls to the west. These later walls are located 0.5m to the west one was on a northwest to southeast alignment and the other appeared to be on a northeast to southwest alignment. The first was seen at 5.7m OD measuring over 1.2m in length and 0.7m wide with a depth of 0.2m and it constructed from various sized large chalk blocks set into a brown clay bonding material. Only one course remained but the faces of the chalk blocks suggested that this wall once had ashlar coursing. The second was seen at 5.67m OD on the eastern trench edge extending beyond the Limit of excavation, the visible portion of the wall measured 1.85m long. These walls possibly represents a remodelling of the property and are likely internal rather than external features. Alongside these walls a post hole measuring 0.38m b 0.35m and 0.36m deep was noted to the south of the walls. This cut into a make-up deposit at 5.62m OD. This was filled by a deposit of light greyish brown, silty clay [151] which contained CBM dated 1600-1800.(3)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2010, Report on evaluation trenching at Nos 149−156 Snargate Street, Dover (Unpublished document). SKE18229.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2014, Report on a watching brief at Nos 149-156 Snargate Street, Dover, March 2014 (Unpublished document). SKE29383.

<3> PCA - Shane Maher, 2016, 149-156 Snargate Street, Dover, Kent - An Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE32330.