During excavations undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust, ahead of the rebuilding of the Townwall Street filling Station, Dover, a complex series of stratified archaeological deposits were revealed representing activity at the site between the early Medieval period and later post medieval periods. Period 1; 1175-1300 is the first time intensive colonisation of the site began (before had been only superficial activity within the area; Period 0). A series of building plots was established, each occupied by a succession of timber or stone structures, in all 8 individual building plots were identified and five of these were examined in detail. Buildings 28, 36 and 39 were located in plot F which is situated at the junction of the path and Clarence Street and seems to be the largest plot. This plot appears to have been occupied intermittently, with at least two significant breaks in the sequence of buildings. Building 28, 36 and 39 are the sixth, seventh and eighth in a sequence of ten buildings on this plot and can be dated to between c. 1225 and c. 1275.

Building 28 replaces building 25 after a period of abandonment and overlaps with the floor of building 27 on plot E and is therefore later. It was built upon dumps of soil, shingle, rubble and domestic rubbish. It consists of a series of patchy rammed chalk and clay floors interleaved with thin occupation layers and levelling deposits. A shallow slot on the south east side represented part of a narrow dwarf wall on the south east side.

Building 36 was erected on a levelling layer of sand, it was largely unsealed and heavily cut by later features. It consisted of a series of chalk floors interleaved with thin occupation layers and levelling deposits with a final clay floor at the top of the sequence. A shallow, ill defined length of gully cut through the primary floor on the north west side and this may represent an internal beam slot.

Building 39 consisted of an L shaped wall footing, any associated floors have been destroyed by later activity at the site. The footing survived along most of the north-east side, with traces of a return at the north-west end. It was 0.46m-1.12m wide and approximately 0.3m deep and was made of rough irregular chalk lumps, with some flints, set in a light grey loam and with very occasional patches of cream gritty mortar in the core, with two course surviving.

Numerous finds were associated with these buildings, particularly building 28. These include numerous iron objects; including nails, a knife fish hooks and a hinge and animal remains; mainly fish bones. (1)

<1> Keith Parfitt, Barry Corke and John Cotter, 2006, Townwall Street, Dover: Excavations 1996 (Monograph). SKE31840.