A number of Medieval ditches were discovered during an archaeological evaluation and watching brief at the Prince of Wales House, Princes Street, Dover, undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 2008 ahead of the development of the site. Four ditches were uncovered all had been heavily truncated by later activity on the site. The first was located at the eastern end of trench 1, this was a shallow north-south running ditch cutting an earlier (Medieval) levelling deposit which was apparent across the trench, sherds of Medieval pottery were located within the fill of this ditch. To the east of this, were two further shallow ditches were located in trench 1, these cut into the natural chalk bedrock, they contained a similar fill to that located within the first ditch and they also contained a few sherds of Medieval pottery and animal bone. The easternmost of these two ditches contained a substantial amount of dog bone belonging to at least two partial skeletons, The skull and mandible probably belong to the smaller of the two which had a height at the withers of ca. 0.35m. The animal had a typical mesaticephalic skull and the teeth in the mandible were crowded and encroached onto the vertical ramus. It is possible that the legs showed some bowing as seen, for example, in the dachshund. The second dog was considerably larger, with a height at the withers of ca. 0.47 m. A continuation of this eastern trench was observed to the north during the excavation of trench 3, Again, the ditch had a similar profile to that observed in Trench 1, but was more severely disturbed, particularly at the north side. This ditch was cut on the eastern side by a 5m wide ditch which ran north-south across the eastern end of trench 1. This feature was 2.3m deep and had a concave base and 45 degree sloping sides. It was filled by a number of broadly similar fills the lowest of which contained a substantial amount of chalk rubble and the upper containing a single sherd of Medieval pottery. This large ditch was also encountered at the eastern end of trench 2, approximately 5m to the south. Due to the level of truncation of these features little can be said about them with any certainty other than the series of ditches were constructed on a broadly similar alignment throughout the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. The deepest and probably latest of these ditches which was encountered at the eastern end of trenches 1 and 2 probably represented a property boundary of some sort.

30 sherds of Medieval pottery were recovered across the site, the majority of these came from the fills of these ditches. Two basic fabric types are represented within the assemblage; sandy and sandy/shelly. Both types are likely to be of local (east Kent) manufacture; the sandy wares, for example, are comparable to wares found in Canterbury, deriving from the nearby Tyler Hill production centre. diagnostic forms here include jars with developed rims, one rim and two strap handles from glazed jugs. The overall date range for these wares is the late 12th to 14th century.

Alongside the comparatively large assemblage of dog bone located within the fill of one of the ditches, a large quantity of limpet shell and a small quantity of other animal bones were recovered within the fills of these ditches. Aside from the dog bones and shell, the identified remains include horse, cattle, sheep/goat and a bird.

A residual sherd of a Roman quern stone was also recovered from within the fill of one of these ditches. (1)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2008, Prince of Wales House, Princes Street, Dover, Kent - Report on Archaeological Works (Unpublished document). SKE32350.