Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
The
Trust recently completed the main phase of a series of works during
the redevelopment of the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. So far our
involvement has included two phases of evaluation, three excavations
and a watching brief.
The
theatre lies in the northern quarter of the city, close to the western
bank of the east branch of the River Stour. It is situated on a
block of land bounded by the river to the east, St Peter’s
Lane to the north-west, St Peter’s Street to the south-west
and a road known as ‘The Friars’ to the south-east.
St Peter’s church occupies the western corner of this block,
with the more extensive thirteenth-century Dominican Friary complex
on the east side. Much of the area, however, appears to have been
open land throughout the centuries, as part of the flood plain of
the River Stour.
The Roman building (Area A)
The
earliest activity on the site lay to the west of the theatre where
a substantial Roman town-house was identified. Boreholing of the
area indicated that this lay on a peninsula of high ground that
projected out into the surrounding marshland towards the Roman line
of the Stour. Although heavily truncated during the building of
the theatre in the 1980s, the remnants of five rooms were identified.
Three
of these were sunken with one containing twenty-five pilae stacks
(see photo) upon which would have sat a tiled floor. The arrangement
formed part of a heating system and showed that this was a building
of some considerable status. A doorway leading from this room was
found to have a timber threshold block, a unique find for Canterbury
and unusual on a national level. This door was later blocked up,
perhaps reflecting a change of use within this part of the building.
The remaining rooms had clay floors with two distinct phases of
occupation identified. Many of the rooms appeared to have been plastered,
the plaster fragments recovered during the excavation generally
painted red, white and black. The central area contained a courtyard
within which beam-slots relating to two phases of timber building
were also identified.
After
abandonment the walls of the building were robbed (parts removed
for use elsewhere) on at least two occasions, the latest of which
occurred in the medieval period, perhaps during the construction
of the friary buildings. Several large medieval pits were also cut
in the area during this period and a wooden platter, again an unusual
find, was recovered from one of these pits. |
