HLHG Visit to Archaeological Dig Site, East Cliff, Folkestone

In 1924, Samuel Winbolt, a Classics teacher, spent the Summer supervising the excavation of an extensive Roman Villa site on the East Cliff, Folkestone, which he had discovered the previous year. The Villa had remained open to view until about 1957, when it had been backfilled in order to protect the remains.

In 2024, the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT), which had been involved in a number of previous digs on the site in recent years, reopened a section of the Roman Villa and also an earlier Iron Age community and work site which had been identified close by. Both sites have been and will be affected by ongoing coastal erosion.

On Wednesday, 14th August 2024, HLHG member, David Paton, who was assisting with the work on the site, arranged for some 13 HLHG members to visit the sites which were described by the CAT site archaeologists. The Villa’s history, construction, use, and demise, and also that of the community of Iron Age roundhouses and workplaces, which had produced quality quern stones from the local sandstone, were explained, and a number of finds were displayed.

Read the full write-up of the visit in the attached PDF below:

East Cliff Dig Site.pdf

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