Excavation in 2000-2002 carried out as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link found evidence of a 19m long wall that ran parallel to five large post holes. These have been suggested as holding posts that carried a portico-like front of the building. The location of the structure indicates that it formed an integral part of the mid Roman Sanctuary complex. It was positioned approximately 10 m from the estimated edge of the Ebbsfleet. A fence line located immediately to the south continues line created by the wall and it is likely that they are associated.

In detail the structure consists of a 19 m long, 0.45 m high wall built in a shallow, it was approximately 0.70 m wide at the base, 0.45 m wide at the top, and constructed of flint nodules and chalk rubble set in a hard, yellowish-white sandy mortar. The flat and level surface of the wall top suggests that it probably survived to its original height and may have provided the base for a timber structure above. 2m in front of the wall was a line of five substantial post-holes, all with post ghosts regularly-spaced at 3 m intervals, with another substantial post-hole at the south-east end lying at 90° to this line. Pottery recovered from the post-pits indicates a mid-Roman date for these. The evidence suggests that the rear wall was enclosed but the front, facing the water, may have been open, creating some form of narrow, portico-like structure. (1)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Monograph). SKE31245.