Canterbury Whitefriars, THE BIG DIG

Introducing the project
Short pictorial history of Canterbury with Whitefriars focus
Volunteers
School children enjoy a fascinating visit!
Discoveries surrounding THE BIG DIGS
THE BIG DIG St George's Street: December 2000 update
THE BIG DIG St George's Street: February 2001 update
THE BIG DIG St George's Street: April 2001 update
THE BIG DIG St George's Street: The final weeks!
Citizenship Education Key Stages 1 to 4: Archaeology in the Local Community
THE BIG DIG Watling Street: Moving on... November 2001 update
THE BIG DIG Gravel Walk: May 2002
THE BIG DIG Gravel Walk: September 2002
THE BIG DIG Whitefriars Yard: September 2003
THE BIG DIG Whitefriars Yard: December 2003
The final days of major excavation at the Whitefriars
Overview of The Whitefriars Development scheme

Introducing the project

In December 1999, the Trust began a programme of urban fieldwork at Canterbury of unprecedented scale and potential for yielding evidence of the city's past. Large and small excavations will take place according to a detailed and exacting programme until July 2004. Watching briefs will continue until completion of the entire development in 2006. The archaeological work is being funded by the site developers, Land Securities Plc. with whom Canterbury Archaeological Trust enjoys excellent relations.

For publicity purposes, each major excavation area at Whitefriars is known as a BIG DIG.

The first of these excavations, THE BIG DIG St George's Street, began in September 2000, at the top end of St George's Street near to the new Bus Station. Prior to this a number of small-scale excavations were undertaken in selected areas, designed to answer specific questions about the city's past. In addition the on-going work of the contractors was monitored while they cut service trenches for the new development.

Canterbury Whitefriars represents one of the largest series of urban excavations ever undertaken in the city. The area affected by the scheme (approximately one twentieth of Canterbury, within the walls), contains two millennia of stratified history – from the origins of Canterbury in the late first century BC to the present day.

We expect to find evidence for the southern boundary of Late Iron Age Canterbury, early Roman streets and timber buildings, later Roman stone and brick houses, Anglo-Saxon timber homes and workshops, medieval streets and houses, the church, conventual buildings and cemeteries of Canterbury Whitefriars and post-medieval and early modern remains.

The co-directors of the excavation team are Alison Hicks and Mark Houliston, both having considerable experience of the city's archaeology. During large scale works Alison and Mark are together supervising a team of 40–50 archaeologists, supported by finds teams and specialists. The entire project will be overseen by the Trust's Senior Field Officer (Jonathan Rady), the Trust's Deputy Director (Pete Clark) and Director (Paul Bennett).

Volunteers needed

Volunteers cleaning finds.

Would you like to be part of this archaeology project? Do you have a few hours to spare on a regular basis? Do you have an enthusiasm for the past and like to share it with others? Then this could be for you! No specialist experience needed.

Masses of finds are being washed and marked (pottery, animal bones etc.) behind the scenes. If you have a few hours to spare ring the Whitefriars Finds Processing supervisor, Jaqui Lawrence on 07759 189453.

There are often other sites being excavated and finds from these are dealt with at our main offices in Broad Street, Canterbury. For information about helping here contact Louise Harrison on +44(0)1227 462062.

Discoveries surrounding THE BIG DIGS

Prior to commencement of the first major excavation at THE BIG DIG St George's Street in 2000, small scale excavations and observations took place in Watling Street, Rose Lane, Gravel Walk, St George's Street and St George's Lane. The gathered evidence has given us more pieces to add to the jigsaw of Canterbury's past.

Here are some of the discoveries made during those early months

Pre-Roman Canterbury: Durovernon, the Late Iron Age settlement

Part of the deep outer ditch which formed the boundary for the 'native' settlement was found 3 metres below present ground surface (Rose Lane, near British Home Stores). This will add to our plan of the early settlement.

The Roman town: Durovernum Cantiacorum

A length of Roman Watling Street was found when excavating alongside modern Watling Street, in the north-east corner of the Watling Street car park. This is close to the site of Roman Riding Gate, through which the road would have passed on its way to Dover. The Roman section we have excavated is on a slightly different alignment to the present route. We think this change may have come about during the Anglo-Saxon period. Material recovered from deposits lying above the Roman road will hopefully provide a firm date for this re-alignment.

Another excavation even closer to Riding Gate and the town wall has revealed material identified as part of the earthen rampart of the Roman town defences. Further rampart deposits, remains of the Roman city wall itself and what is almost certainly part of an internal tower (see February update) have been uncovered in trenches cut adjacent to the Bus Station, close to St George's Gate. Only one other such tower has ever been identified in Canterbury (in 1955). Further excavation in this area should reveal more remains of this structure.

Near to the Three Tuns pub (at the cross-roads of Watling Street/Beer Cart Lane/St Margaret's Street/Castle Street) parts of the outer wall and internal walls of the Roman theatre were uncovered. These details will help us to compile a new and more accurate plan of the theatre.

In St George's Street, further remains of an apsidal ended Roman building were found. First discovered in 1947 when archaeologists were investigating bomb damaged premises in the town, the new details have provided interesting evidence for a re-occupation of this masonry building in the 4th century.

South-east of British Home Stores, further remains were found of a town house which was already known to exist.

Later Anglo-Saxon Canterbury: Cantwaraburh

Part of what is perhaps Anglo-Saxon St George's Street was uncovered.

The Medieval and Post-Medieval City

Remains of external walls associated with the medieval churches of St Andrew in the High Street and St Mary Bredin in Rose Lane were located. A substantial number of medieval and post-medieval cess pits and domestic rubbish pits were also found and investigated. Although these don't sound glamorous, they can in fact yield valuable information about the lifestyle and habits of former Canterbury residents ... Metalworking debris was recovered from one of these, from an area at the top end of St George's Street. Articulated human remains were unearthed during preliminary piling work at the corner of St George's Street and St George's Lane. The remains almost certainly belonged to a burial within the lay cemetery of Whitefriars, which is known to lie in the vicinity. Also found were remains of chalk and flint walls, probably also associated with the friary.

Victorian Canterbury

In the upper layers of the 'Roman rampart' trench near Riding Gate, a beautiful mosaic floor was uncovered barely beneath the modern ground surface. The decorated floor formed part of the Dane John Academy, a 'Boarding School for Gentlemen' built in the mid-19th century. A new Bus Station administration office now sits on the site of the former Academy.

THE BIG DIG St George's Street : December 2000 update

The first of the major excavations, THE BIG DIG St George's Street began in earnest in mid-September. Despite appalling weather and the monumental task of removing modern structures (cellars, concrete piles and the like), a great deal has been achieved already. Machine work at the very beginning uncovered parts of the friary church, only centimetres below modern ground level. Since then, discovering segments of the church walls has meant that the archaeologists can now begin to see how the building developed during its life time. The medieval church was built using flint and chalk, typical materials for the time.

During a watching brief in St George's Lane (near the Canterbury Bus Station shelters) part of the boundary wall to Whitefriars friary has also been found, built in chalk and flint. This discovery helps to establish the area occupied by the friary complex.

Fragments of stained glass, a tile hearth, clay floors and cobbled surfaces are more evidence for contemporary buildings close to the friary church. These buildings probably met the same fate as Whitefriars itself when, under Henry VIII the friary was demolished at the Dissolution. Between 1537 and 1540 all of Canterbury's monastic houses were closed (Greyfriars, Whitefriars, Blackfriars, St Augustine's Abbey, St Gregory's Priory, St Sepulchre's Nunnery and Christ Church Priory).

A number of inhumation burials have also been found, from the friary's lay cemetery. These are being removed for study. Go to the Citizenship page for information related to the excavation of human remains.

Elsewhere on the excavation, the team have found remains of buildings spanning the 15th to 19th centuries. Some of these were properties along St George's Street and as always in Canterbury, many nearby domestic rubbish pits have come to light containing broken pots and fragments of animal bone, probably discarded rubbish from kitchens. This may have been rubbish to Canterbury's medieval citizens, but archaeologists can learn a lot about their way of life by trawling through it!

Right across the excavation area, glimpses of earlier, Roman, activity are coming to light as the team continues to remove the layers ... signs of exciting things still to come...

Watching brief work associated with the Whitefriars development

The team are keeping an eye on a number of service trenches which the contractors are digging outside THE BIG DIG St George's Street excavation boundary. Part of medieval St Andrew's Church (visible in a later reconstruction drawing of the city) has been recorded outside Boots the Chemist in the High Street and Roman pottery has been found at Watling Street, near to the new church of St Andrew's, currently under construction.

THE BIG DIG St George's Street: February 2001 update

All of the exposed walls of the friary church have now been recorded. Freezing weather in January, followed by bouts of rain (could it get much worse?!) made conditions on-site very difficult but digging continued ... In particular the team worked on areas associated with the medieval buildings north of the friary church.

They have also identified a length of Roman wall which had been earlier exposed by machine work. This wall adds another piece to the jigsaw of the Roman apsidal building first discovered in 1947 (outside the excavation area in St George's Street, see 'Discoveries surrounding THE BIG DIGS ... The Roman town' above). The rectangular structure has been described as 'apsidal' (being rounded at one end) and may be an indicator of the practice of Christianity in Canterbury towards the close of the Roman period. Nearby more Roman evidence can be seen extending into the main excavation area to the south.

Work has also begun on the eastern side of the excavation where the team are assessing the nature of the archaeology.

Watching brief work associated with the Whitefriars development

A second team have been working near to THE BIG DIG St George's Street on an area right up against the city wall. In the Whitefriars redevelopment plan, this is to become a 'cycle facility' for local residents, visitors and environment conscious commuters. An exciting discovery made earlier has now been confirmed. The team have found a square Roman tower built in flint, originally one of several against the internal surface of the Roman town wall. Very little of Canterbury's Roman defensive circuit remains visible above ground today so this discovery really does add something to the picture!

For the most part, the walls and towers that you see today when you walk a circuit of the city are of Medieval date and later.

ITHE BIG DIG St George's Street: April 2001 update

Weather has been marginally better and much progress has been made on all areas of the excavation. The levels under excavation have been broadly medieval in date.

On the far western side more inhumation burials have come to light which help the team to define the boundary of the lay cemetery.

Moving across site towards the central area, the team has been working on remains of medieval buildings which pre-date the Friary. Here a number of clay floors, tile hearths, pits and walls have been uncovered together with some rare finds: fragments of coarsely woven fabric, a virtually complete chicken's egg (a delicate job for the conservator) and in someone's 'back garden' part of a timber-lined cess pit with wood still surviving intact.

In the central area, work continued on a row of masonry buildings contemporary with the Friary.

Moving on across site towards the east, a medieval street with metalled (gravelled) surface has come to light, running north-south (roughly right angles to modern St George's Street). The signs are that a lot of interesting domestic finds will be made on its surfaces as the team removes the layers. Flanking the street are remains of a number of buildings.

Right over on the eastern side of THE BIG DIG, most of the modern features have now been dug out (cellars, service pipes etc.) and the team are currently working on a number of masonry buildings found flanking medieval St George's Lane. On the clay floor of one builidng they found a mass of fine bones, possibly from fish. Another building seems to have been a bronze working shop.

Watching brief work associated with the Whitefriars development

The 'cycle facility' excavation has now finished and a full record of the impressive remains of the Roman defensive tower has been made. Photographing, drawing and describing in writing the buildings and other structures revealed on archaeological sites is painstaking work but a vital part of the excavation process as the evidence is usually then destroyed in order to keep digging down through the site.

The team can now say that these Roman defences were a planned programme of building works with the tower, wall and rampart all built at the same time. Because the tower is in such a rare state of preservation and is an integral part of the town wall, it will be left in situ to be accommodated within the new cycle facility.

The layers below the Roman rampart are being examined to try and find out how this land was used before the town's Roman defences were built. Was it pasture land or perhaps ploughed? What types of crops may have been grown or animals farmed? Samples of the soils have been taken for analysis, to try and answer these questions.

THE BIG DIG St George's Street: The final weeks!

Firstly, we are sorry to be late in getting this final piece up! Our only reason/excuse is that THE BIG DIG team have been extremely busy and something had to give! Here then is a summary of the closing weeks - when some pretty significant discoveries were made, particularly from Anglo-Saxon times.

By the end of May the team were getting down to 'islands' of Roman stratigraphy on the western side of the dig while work continued on medieval levels in the central area and to the north. Canterbury's landscape is riddled with deep rubbish and cess pits dug in medieval times (and later) and in their cutting, these pits sliced through and muddled the earlier layers beneath. Hence, we tend to find these isolated islands of surviving evidence representing the underlying Roman occupation. However, much can be gleaned even from partial remains and the skills of the archaeologist piece it all together to form an overall picture of what was going on.

Previous excavations had suggested that for the first 100 years following the Roman conquest (ie. upto c.150 AD) this area of Canterbury lay beyond the limits of the Roman town. Gradually timber buildings encroached from the west followed by ones with masonry foundatiions. Current work at THE BIG DIG confirms this picture and no intact Roman occupation was to be found on the eastern side of the excavation.

On the western side however, the team found substantial evidence of Roman building. Tile and clay floors, pieces of daub and tesselated flooring (made in red and grey tile and ragstone) indicated the presence of a timber structure, possibly a renovation of an earlier building. Other exclusively Roman evidence here included pins made from animal bone, beads and pottery sherds. A second building in this area had been built using stone and was larger, probably a town house. This also had tesselated flooring, evidence of internal walls plastered over and painted and an underfloor heating system (hypocaust).

On the extreme southern edge of the site there appears to have been a clay quarry, a handy source in Roman times of raw material for building and repairing walls and the like.

Anglo-Saxon

THE BIG DIG St George's Street produced new and important evidence for the development of this area in Anglo-Saxon times.

The earliest evidence for Anglo-Saxon occupation was found in the south-east corner of the site, an area inside the city wall but well away from the masonry ruins which marked the edge of the old Roman town. Clay floors and post holes showed that structures of some kind had once existed, possibly in the 8th century. Such evidence from intra-mural sites (ie. within the town walls) in Canterbury is very rare and therefore very welcome.

In the central area of the site, the team discovered a small Anglo-Saxon lane running north-south, probably a small thoroughfare. It was built with layers of gravel and flint and pottery found here dates it to around the late 9th century. This discovery helps to shed light on when the road system in the St George's area of Canterbury was established and indications are that a period of building took place at the time of Alfred the Great.

Yet more discoveries were made on the far eastern side of the site. Earlier on in the project, the team had discovered medieval St George's Lane. Now they began to remove the metalled surfaces, revealing its Anglo-Saxon predecessor. A thick layer of silt had accumulated on the surface of the Anglo-Saxon street during its lifetime and fragments of animal bones and a piece of weaving loom weight were found embedded there. This length of Anglo-Saxon St George's Lane discovered at THE BIG DIG is one of the largest and best preserved lengths of Anglo-Saxon street ever found in the city. It had been resurfaced in its lifetime and had been built at one stage (possibly around the 8th or 9th century) with an interesting mix of flint cobbles, fragments of iron slag and broken re-used Roman tile. While working in this area, the team also found evidence for buildings flanking the Anglo-Saxon lane.

The northern end of the lane turned off in a westerly direction, forming a 'T' junction. After about 10 metres the metalling led into what may have been an open courtyard area. Yet another interesting discovery was made on the far side of this, a late Anglo-Saxon building made up of a number of rooms. It may well have been a granary as pieces of quern stone (for grinding floor) and masses of burnt grain interleaved with layers of ash were found thick across the floors. It was not uncommon for grain to become infested with weevil bugs. It may have been that the only way to rid the pest was to burn the lot!

Collectively these discoveries are very significant for the development of Canterbury in the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period, adding to a body of rare evidence. A fitting way then to end the first major phase of THE BIG DIG, Whitefriars Canterbury where more than 1500 came to see the work in progress.

THE BIG DIG Watling Street: November 2001

And now... Moving on!

Summer 2001 - and the team were quick to move on to the next phase of excavation in the Whitefriars project. In order to maintain public interest generated by the first phase, THE BIG DIG Visitor Centre kept up with them and moved to the corner of Watling Street/St George's Lane. A number of trenches were opened up and perhaps the most visual standing remains were to be found beneath the former Coach and Horses pub...

More of medieval Whitefriars unearthed...

The team picked up an impressive length of external wall from the southern range of the friary. Inside the building was a banked up mass of tumbled rubble from the time of its demolition (either at the Dissolution in 1538 or perhaps later). Although rubble now, we can find out a lot about how the building was constructed and how it would have looked. Flint and chalk blocks had been used in the basic structure and the stone work of the windows and arches had been finely decorated. The fragments show that designs with stripes, checks, spirals, swirls and chevrons had been painted onto their plastered surfaces.

Four shorter segments of wall were found joining this main length, making 3 identifiable rooms. Most of the fine painted stone work was found in the deeply set westernmost room. Here a segment of collapsed wall made of small yellow bricks also came to light in the rubble. We think these bricks would have been imported from the Low Countries in the 14th century and as such are good dating evidence. As the remaining rubble was cleared away the team also found that this room once had a fireplace (which had later been blocked up). Back and sides of the lower part still survived and showed that it was built with stacks of clay peg tiles bonded with mortar; the tiles had been scorched by constant use. The function of this room is not yet known but the fine stone work and decoration suggest this could have been a prestigious part of the friary complex.

Although this part of the friary clearly had windows, no fragments of stained glass have been found as yet. Perhaps the windows were removed before demolition took place.

Roman remains

Close to the friary remains (on the northern side of the excavation), the team discovered a large expanse of Roman road and pits containing domestic refuse such as discarded pottery and animal bones.

THE BIG DIG Gravel Walk: May 2002

THE BIG DIG Visitor Centre opened again in March with a new exhibition of finds and additional 'hands-on' material for youngsters. An added attraction for this phase is the new big screen digital presentation of recent discoveries, updated as the site progresses!

The entire excavation is divided up into 3 working areas. The most northerly area has the clearly visible chalk walls of the Whitefriars friary buildings first discovered last autumn (which will remain standing until August 2nd). The central area is seen by looking straight out from the principal covered walkway. The third stretches away towards modern Watling Street and the Dane John Gardens.

There have been some extraordinary discoveries in all areas of the excavation.

Recent medieval discoveries – yet more of the Whitefriars friary!

We know from historical plans and other archaeological sites, that the layout of medieval monastic houses tended to conform to a certain pattern. For example, where the domestic buildings were sited in relation to the church and so on. This helps the team to interpret the remains they find in the ground.

They have now found the kitchen range with its clay floors and tile hearths, part of what may be the friars' refectory (dining room), a nearby 'warming room' where the friars could relax and most recently remains of what is currently being interpreted as the 'treasury' where money and other valuables would have been stored away. Finding a big section of iron grille (such as you would have in a secure vault) has suggested this. A curious little structure with chalk walls has also come to light, which may have been a latrine (toilet). Some of the deposits from the walls have been scraped away for scientific analysis...

Outside the remains of these buildings (moving into the central area of excavation) lies the friary's 'outer court'. Here a number of pits are showing up, where the friars threw away their daily domestic rubbish (food remains, broken pottery vessels and much more, now decomposed) and emptied out the 'night soil' from their chamber pots... The team are also coming across open areas of soil where the friars would have grown their fruit and veg, enriched no doubt by the supplies of human waste nearby!

Bone pricker for marking out lines on parchment.

Stained glass? from the friary.

Iron key found at the doorway into the 'treasury'.

On its southern side, the 'outer court' was enclosed by a masonry wall (also picked up on site). Running outside this wall and parallel to it lie the impressive remains of medieval Gravel Walk with its wheel ruts cut by numerous carts trundling up and down. An amazing discovery was made on this side of the site - several fragments of parchment (sheepskin) found in a shallow pit. They may have originally come from some kind of ledger. Normally organic materials decompose in these soils so we have no idea as yet how this has survived!

Recent Anglo-Saxon discoveries

We know that there was Anglo-Saxon occupation in this area as small teams of archaeologists had excavated below bombed out buildings in the late 1940's and 1950's, following World War ll. Now, more than 50 years later we are adding to the picture. Traces of sunken buildings known as grubenhaus, built with timber, daub and thatch, are showing up. Lying buried beneath soil in the centre of one of these 'grub huts' was the skeleton of a young woman. Perhaps she once lived there...Pottery found with the building is dated to the 9th or 10th century.
Unusually large sherd of Anglo-Saxon jar.

Recent Roman discoveries

The deeper we dig down through a city like Canterbury, the more fragmentary the structural evidence becomes. This is because over the centuries the daily activities of generations of people have destroyed much of the evidence of those who inhabited the area before them. A deep pit cut in medieval times for dumping rubbish will, for example, cut down and destroy any older remains lying beneath (see stratigraphy diagram).

We tend then to find only pieces of the Roman Canterbury 'jigsaw' dotted around on our sites. We will never find all the bits! But on paper at least, a skilled archaeologist can link up the evidence and build a more complete picture.

Several 'islands' of road metallings (gravel and flint) have shown up which show that a substantial Roman road crossed THE BIG DIG. Parts of it will be buried beneath our site offices and visitor centre! Elsewhere, small areas of tesselated floors and walls show that Roman buildings once stood here. In one corner of the site near to British Home Stores, the Trust's Director, Paul Bennett works off the week's stresses by digging the substantial remains of a Roman town house, first detected in the 1960's.

On the extreme southern side of the excavation (not far from modern Watling Street and the line of Roman Watling Street) two Roman juveniles and two adults have been discovered. These burials were clearly placed within the Roman town walls which we believe were built in the 3rd century AD (the walls you see standing today are mostly medieval and later in date and follow the line of the Roman circuit).

The discovery was something of a surprise because we know that burial within a town was not allowed in Roman times. One explanation is that when these people died the town occupied a smaller area with perhaps an earthen boundary; and at that time the graves would have been outside of this, therefore complying with Roman law.

The individuals were buried unceremoniously in a shallow ditch. One was lying face down, another with one leg tightly flexed against the chest and the other leg stretched out... not at all normal... and rather bizarre.

THE BIG DIG Gravel Walk: September 2002

Huge Roman building exposed!

The Gravel Walk phase of the Whitefriars excavations ended on a high, with the discovery of a huge Roman building! The glimpses of tesselated floor uncovered earlier hinted at something impressive still to come - and we were not disappointed.

The masonry building originally covered a vast area with an estimated 15 rooms! There was a central corridor with a floor made of red terracotta tesserae and inlaid mosaic panels. Fragments of wall plaster still in situ showed that some of the rooms had been brightly decorated. Two of the rooms had hypocaust systems (under floor heating found commonly in bath rooms) and yet another room had a small partially preserved oven. Impressive remains for an urban site!

The remains stretched from the visitor walkway right across the site towards the British Home Stores edge to the west. It was fantastic viewing for the crowds of visitors, many of them regulars since the Whitefriars project began in 2000.

In the final weeks virtually the entire team concentrated on the vast area the Roman building had occupied, uncovering as much as possible before the excavation ended on August 9th.

The following week, the site passed smoothly over to the contractors who began levelling in preparation for new building works. Another phase of archaeological excavation had been successfully completed and the next phase of Canterbury Whitefriars redevelopment scheme had begun.

THE BIG DIG Whitefriars Yard: September 2003

The Final Fling!

A year has passed since the end of the 2002 excavations! The Whitefriars team has spent the time cataloguing, cleaning and identifying finds and collating and interpreting their site records. Now Alison and Mark and their team have begun the final phase at Whitefriars Yard and will continue excavating until 19th December.

The site is sandwiched between the new Fenwick's store (THE BIG DIG 2000–01) and the area excavated last year (THE BIG DIG 2002) and now they are filling in more pieces of the Whitefriars jigsaw. Already further substantial remains of the Whitefriars church nave have been found and what seems to be a duct running around the inside walls of the chancel. This may have been a resonance duct to amplify the voices of the friars while at worship. More of the southern range buildings found on previous sites has also been picked up. The 'warming room' of last year has now become much bigger... and has fantastic plastered walls, another fireplace and window shafts to allow some light in, as the room was below ground level. So much appears to have survived simply because these sunken rooms were subterranean and escaped the ravages of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII.

Beautiful lead papal seal for sealing documents. On one side the figures of SS Peter and Paul,
on the reverse a Latin abbreviation for Pope Nicholas V, dated to 1447–1455.
Found on the floor of a friary room partly excavated last summer.

THE BIG DIG Whitefriars Yard: December 2003

Fantastic finds at the friary – and only 3 weeks left!

All the friary levels at the site have been excavated. There were substantial remains of the friary church nave (which will tie in with discoveries from the St George's Street phase in 2000) with a number of inhumation burials, presumably benefactors of the friary, along with evidence for the main cloister. Perhaps the most impressive architectural discoveries have been the subterranean 'warming room' and the huge cess tank.

The 'warming room'

Part of the room was found on last year's excavation at Gravel Walk and now it continues through to the current site. The room was found largely intact as, being built below ground level, it had survived the ravages of the Dissolution under Henry Vlll in the mid-16th century. Two hearths showed that the room was heated and window shafts show that some light came down from ground level. Scars against walls and floor indicate that the room had been divided up using wooden partitions. Two interpretations are a) a place where the friars could go to literally warm up b) an infirmary for the sick.

Inside the 'warming room' looking towards viewing platform.	Stone blocks from demolition rubble in 'warming room' with medieval graffiti 'ff thomas bons' and a gloved hand.

The friary cess tank

This was an incredibly deep and impressive structure built with chalk blocks. While chalk would not be a suitable material for superstructures, it was suited to subterranean building. Connected to the tank was a latrine 'chute' which channelled all the waste from the friars toilets in the dormitory above, at ground level.

Samples of cess are being removed for analysis and will we hope tell us much about the daily diet of the medieval friars!

At the time of writing, an impressive group of whole ceramic pots is coming up from the bottom of the tank – presumably dumped when the friary was razed at the Dissolution in the mid-16th century.

The impressive chalk built cess tank.	A construction trench (an extension to the Simon Langton Boys Grammar School) cuts through the top of the cess tank. Photo dated 1914.	Above: Fly puparia in the bottom of a bowl found in the cess tank. Below: Some of the 16th century ceramic pots from the bottom of the tank. The soft landing had broken their fall!

Back to top

School children enjoy their BIG DIG visit

Some satisfied customers from Greatstone Primary School, New Romney:

'It was fabulous I wish I could come again' (Shelley)
'Thank you a lot it can not bin better' (Lauren)
'I liked the sheets and the talk and I liked your friend as well' (Jessie)
'My favourite part was when I took pictures because my mummy and daddy can see what I took at the Big Dig. I had a lot of fun in Canterbury especially the Big Dig' (Emily)
'I like it when we had to do the sheet you had to circle what we saw' (Jemma)
'I like the medieaval toilet... I was amazed how much your crew have dug' (Joe)
'Thank you for helping us with the Romans... thank you for showing us the dried up pooh' (Samuel)

and from Dee

Groups from schools, college and university departments have taken the opportunity to visit this final BIG DIG excavation. Probably the most stimulating have been the classes of primary school children! Many thanks to my colleague, Dr Enid Allison and volunteers Mary, Freda, Paul and Peggy who have assisted me while on duty since September 2003. The visit was in partnership with the Museum of Canterbury and included an introduction to 'Archaeology and Archaeologists' in the museum's education room before taking the short walk to the site. Children and teachers departed happy, more knowledgeable and good contacts have been made for the future.

Clockwise from top left: Introduction to THE BIG DIG visit, Museum of Canterbury. Looking for different tools and jobs on the site. Identifying the finds. 'Did you really find those jugs in the toilet?!'

Back to top

The final days

Mid December and this last major phase of excavation drew to a close. The team had succeeded in excavating all surviving evidence for the friary and below this, more remains of Anglo-Saxon and Roman settlement to add to the Whitefriars historical 'jigsaw'.

12,700 visitors came to see the site during the 13 week period of opening to the public. Over 700 were from local schools and colleges. People were thrilled, absorbed and often left with a new sense of awareness gained from the experience.

Thank you

I would like to say a big 'thank you' to all those people who made this final phase of opening THE BIG DIG such a success:

• All the stewards for their enthusiasm and committment
• The 'hbg construction' team and John, Andrew, Peter and Evangeline at CAT for their assistance, particularly in setting up the platform and graphic displays
• Special thanks to my colleague, Enid Allison who shared the daily duties with me and was merciless in getting the punters to part with their cash!
• Mark and Alison who headed the Whitefriars excavation team and kept us updated with the discoveries and progress on site.