Evaluation at King's Orchard, Rochester Cathedral

Keevill Heritage Ltd excavated three small test pits in private garden areas on the south edge of and immediately outside Rochester Cathedral's Precincts, Medway (Kent), in January 2025. The land is in Chapter ownership, and has been identified as a potential community garden. Part is within the King's Orchard, and part is just outside this on the north edge of The Vines. This part of the land is currently in use as a small extension of Oriel House's gardens (the latter is also Chapter property). The two open areas are separated by a former gateway through the Precinct/city wall: this was blocked at some time in the past. The blocking itself, and buried archaeology within the gate, were of interest. The test pits were excavated under Scheduled Monument Consent granted on 16 September 2024 (ref S00246382), and the pits were dug on 13-17 January 2025. Test pits 1 and 2 were excavated on the north (internal) and south sides of the gateway respectively, and revealed evidence for a possible medieval trackway through it. Dating evidence from both pits (but especially TP1) suggests that the blocking wall was inserted in the later post-medieval period, at the time Oriel House was built (mid-18th century) or afterwards. A substantial section of the city wall to the west of the gateway had to be demolished to make way for Oriel House, and some of the gates through the wall doubtless lost some of their past value as access points because of this. Test pit 3, in the garden on the Oriel House (south) side of the gate, only revealed thick layers of garden-type soil to a depth of 1m. A useful assemblage of artefacts was recovered from the excavations, with a section of an octagonal shaft probably of 12th-century date from TP1 being the most important find. A brick (also from TP1) was surprisingly interesting: it had been made in Leeds during the mid-/late 19th century.