Land off Buckland Lane, Maidstone, Kent

In Septemeber 1997 the Oxford Archaeological Unit carried out a field evaluation at the old sports ground off Buckland Lane, Maidstone, on behalf of Lawson-Price for Cadbury Schweppes. The evaluation revealed no archaeological features and no evidence of the Roman Villa which was documented nearby at Buckland Farm during the 19th century. The evaluation did confirm that the site had been landscaped. The area to the west was heavily truncated and the excavated natural soils had been redeposited to the north east of the site. This part of the site was bounded by the old pavilion to the south and west and the redeposited material was up to 3m deep. A possible turf line which pre-dates the backfill deposits was encountered to the south of this building.