Builders have helped preserve Roman walls dug up by archaelogists - by burying them again.

It was feared a harsh frost would damage the remains, uncovered near East Farleigh.

So workers from Maidstone-based Gallagher Group stepped in to get them "back-filled" in just a day - a process in which material is used to refill an excavated area.

Linda Weeks, honorary secretary of the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group, said: “We were concerned that the ragstone walls of the Roman buildings would have been damaged by the winter frosts, but Gallagher’s timely intervention has meant these walls have now been preserved.”

The Maidstone Area Archaeological Group has been excavating the group of Roman buildings at East Farleigh since 2005.

They might have been part of a Roman farmstead that supplied those working at the quarries near Dean Street - a mile or so away - which supplied the Kentish ragstone used to construct the walls of Roman London.