Roman ruins found in Canterbury

Archeological site in St. Dunstan's, Canterbury

words and video by Hannah Atterbury

An ancient Roman burial ground has been uncovered in St Dunstan’s, Canterbury. The site, located on the former Halletts garage on Station Road West, is currently being excavated by the Canterbury Archeological Trust to prepare for the building of new student accommodation.

Archeologist, Chris Hammond, said the graves dated back to either 1 or 2 AD and that “loads of bodies” remained. The skeletons are all facing east or west which suggests them all to be Christian.

The Canterbury Archeological Trust states that “the site lies in an important suburb of the Roman and medieval town”, and that the Roman provincial town would have contained a civic centre with a theatre, a temple and public baths. It also would have included streets with town –houses, shops, workshops and the “attributes of a sizeable urban residential population”.

An ancient Roman grave

The Roman road to London followed the current line of St. Dunstan’s Street and at the end of the third century a city wall and gates were constructed, which the Trust describes as “the Roman predecessor of Westgate”.

The earliest fossil found was a 400,000-year-old elephants tusk, which was discovered three miles below the surface. There is also evidence of Anglo-Saxon occupation as there is a number of Saxon rubbish pits and remnants of timber structures. Remains of Medieval foundations also crossed over onto the site.

Mr. Hammond said that skeletons would be taken for examination to determine the sex, age and causes of death and they would eventually be re-buried.

The excavation is due to continue until the end of March and building work will then commence on top of the site.

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