A number of Roman ditches, possibly representing boundary ditches, and a Roman gully all dating to the 1st-3rd centuries were located at the former site of the Post Office at Biggin Street, Dover. The earliest of these Roman features, which was in fact the earliest of the features identified during the investigation at this site, was a ditch aligned NE-SW together with a terminus of a curvilinear ditch aligned approximately E-W, located within trench 12. Both of the features cut the natural brick-earth at a depth of c. 5.24m OD and were 0.3m deep. They were filled with a grey-ish brown clay silt which was devoid of any finds. The curvilinear ditch appeared to be on a similar alignment with another ditch located in trench 10 which had a comparable fill. This ditch in trench 10 was cut by a later ditch also of a Roman date which was aligned NNW-SSE. This ditch had a rounded base profile and measured 0.8m wide by 0.31m deep and was filled with a brown clay silt containing 2nd and 3rd century wares. It continued beyond the limits of the trench 10 but was identified again in trench 6 situated just to the north-west. The fill of the section of the ditch in trench 6 was similar to that in trench 10 and again contained sherds of 2nd-3rd century pottery, 111 were uncovered in total. The ditch narrowed towards the northern end from 1m to 0.5m and became shallower from 0.38m to 0.23m. Two parallel linear features were located in trench 5, these cut the natural at a depth of 5.51m OD, one was interpreted as a ditch while the other was a gully. The gully was situated 1m to the west of the ditch and ran parallel to the later of the two ditches identified in trench 10, 8m to the east. The gully was 0.5m wide by 0.2m deep and continued beyond the limits of the excavation to the east. The ditch also extended beyond the limits of the trench to the south east and was 0.8m wide by 0.3m deep. Another ditch terminus was identified within trench 7, this cut the natural at 5.34m OD and was 1m wide by 0.34m deep and more than 4m in length. This extended beyond the limits of the excavation towards the north-west. Its fill consisted of a greyish-brown clay silt containing pottery including ‘Upchurch Type’ grey wares and black burnished wares, both of which probably originated from North Kent. Roman hob-nails and nails were also recovered. A shallow ditch was located in trench 8 and appears to be a continuation of the ditch identified in trench 2 during the earlier evaluation of the site in 1998. (summarised from report)(1)

<1> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1999, Excavations at the former Post Office, Biggin Street, Dover. Draft Publication Report. (Unpublished document). SKE7660.