A series of post medieval walls, yard surfaces and drains were located during the excavation of a surface water drainage system at Ladywell car park, Dover. It is likely that these remains represent the former site of out or ancillary buildings associated with the Medieval Maison Dieu Hospital which is situated a short distance to the south.

In detail; five walls of an early post medieval date were uncovered, there were no associated occupation levels and so the walls are dated on their construction materials and methods. Re-used Medieval building stone is noted in at least two of the walls, this probably implies a post dissolution date for their construction. Two other walls included fragments of early brick in their construction. Two wall fragments ran north-west by south-east parallel to the riverside wall and quite possibly represent the south-western side of a range of buildings running along the riverside with an internal width of just under 7m and at least 15m long. The remaining 5 walls ran roughly north-east by south-west and could represent various divisions within such a range of buildings, variations in the materials and construction methods suggest that there was more than one phase of development at this site. At the eastern end of the North-east trench a series of metalled surfaces were revealed comprising alternate layers of pea gravel and rammed chalk over flint cobbles, these probably represent yard surfaces. An underlying deposit of grey silty clay produced a single pot sherd in the form of a piece of 17th-18th century Delft Ware. This clearly implies that all of these surfaces are post medieval in date and the upper levels are likely to be 19th century. Alongside the walls and surfaces two brick built barrel vaulted drains dating to the 19th century. (1-2)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1995, Archaeological Observations at the Ladywell Car-Park, Dover (Unpublished document). SKE16760.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1994-1995, Canterbury’s Archaeology 1994–1995, Fieldwork III Kent sites (Article in serial). SKE32046.