Thurnham Roman Villa and Land South of Corbier Hall, ARC THM 96

As part of a larger programme of archaeological investigation along the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Union Railways Ltd commissioned the Oxford Archaeological Unit to undertake a field evaluation of 4 ha of land north of the M20 at Thurnham, near Maidstone. The site of the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Thurnham Roman Villa was examined together with a corridor to the south-east which included land close to the Scheduled Ancient Monument of medieval Corbier Hall. The wall footings of the villa were exposed under the modern ploughsoil, together with the footings of an aisled building 50 m to the east and evidence of other structures in adjacent trenches. Archaeological deposits, including ditches, pits, cobbled spreads and building debris, were widespread in an area extending for 200 m NW-SE and the 90 m width of the evaluation corridor, both on the knoll on which the villa stood and off the slope to the south-east.