R A Buckmaster
Canterbury's Archaeology 1988-1989, Canterbury Archaeological Trust
During September 1988, evaluation trenching in advance of a scheme by Canterbury City Council to establish a riverside walk was undertaken against two river frontages close to and inside the precinct of Greyfriars, established in 1224 and surrendered to the crown in 1538. Four small trenches, approximately 2m x 2m square were excavated at the proposed bridging points of the branches of the River Stour.
The designs of the proposed bridge supports – mass concrete-filled trenches 2m deep – governed the depth of the evaluation exercise and the location of our trenches coincided with the proposed siting of the bridges.
Trench A at the north-west end of Water Lane revealed a deep sequence of post-Second World War deposits. Beneath the present concrete and rubble surface of Water Lane, a deposit 1m thick of ash and cinder overlay thin laminated lenses of river silt mixed with reddish gravel containing two 0.38 calibre pistol bullets. Sealed by these recent deposits were metallings for a street leading to the ford across the Stour. The very compact metallings were sample-excavated to a depth of 0.30m and appeared to extend down to a much greater depth. Although no finds were recovered from the two surfacings that were sampled, neither appeared to be of great antiquity.
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A ford crossing the river at this point may have been in existence since Anglo-Saxon times as the line of present-day Watling Street and its continuation along Beer Cart Lane and Water Lane was a principal thoroughfare leading eventually to the London road. The establishment of Greyfriars terminated the importance of the street, its north-west progression effectively forming a 'T-junction' with Stour Street. The ford continued in use as a principal point of access to Greyfriars and to buildings and gardens that survived the Dissolution. The dumped deposits located in the evaluation trench indicated that the ford finally went out of use in the early part of this century.
Trench B was located against the existing riverside wall on the island, opposite the ford. There, corresponding metalling to that found at Water Lane was revealed, though at a level 0.30m higher. The metalling was capped by river silt which was in turn covered by a rubble of brick, tile and mortar. Adjoining this at right angles to the stream was a 0.40m-wide wall of mortared chalk-blocks, Caen stone and brick. The wall, only partially within the evaluation trench, appears to have formed part of a post-Dissolution building set at right angles to the Stour. A building has long been postulated in this position, possibly fronting on to the east side of the lane leading from the ford to the extant refectory building, built over the north-western branch of the Great Stour. The wall and courtyard were successively sealed by demolition deposits and topsoil. The new bridge abutment will hopefully be designed to avoid the wall foundation.
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Trench C was excavated against the south side of the northern branch of the Great Stour, south-west of the refectory. Our brief here was to examine the existing riverside wall to determine whether it could be used in part to support new bridge work. The upper 0.40m of the wall was of brickwork, constructed over a more substantial Caen stone, chalk block, flint and brick wall which extended downward for a further 1.40m. Thick sequences of topsoil, river silts and clays were examined either side of the wall and remnants of an earlier wattle riverside revetment of indeterminate date, but presumably medieval, were also examined.
The final evaluation trench, D, was sited obliquely across the river from Trench C, in the south-east corner of a public garden. Here a similar operation to Trench C was mounted to examine the width, depth and potential load-bearing capacity of the existing riverside wall. The existing brick wall is built over an earlier wall of two phases. Under recent brickwork is a flint and chalk block wall bonded in white mortar, overlying similar fabric bonded in a yellow mortar. Both walls had been faced with Caen stone blockwork of one build, incorporating a number of architectural fragments. A construction horizon of abraded mortar located to the rear of the revetment, which coincided with the change in fabric and mortars of the two earlier walls, capped a thick deposit of green-grey river clay containing medieval and Roman finds. Further deposits of upcast, undoubtedly associated with the construction of the river wall, underlay the clay to the total 2m depth of the evaluation trench. Both masonry walls appeared to be of post-Dissolution build.
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