ARCHAEOLOGISTS face a race against time to study parts of the former Roman villa in Folkestone before it crumbles over the cliffs.

The Wear Bay Road site, which dates back to 100BC, was first excavated in 1924 but last year received a grant of nearly £300,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Archaeologists recently realised that one wing of the villa is now within a few feet of the edge of the 100ft cliff and so are battling to record information before it disappears.

Site director Keith Parfitt said: "It's a natural casualty and we're waiting for fate but there's nothing we can do to stop the cliffs being eroded.

"The site was backfilled in 1957 to protect it and, since then, it has sat there quietly under the grass.

"There was an excavation in 1989 but we've only realised in the last year or two how close part of the site is to the cliff edge.

"We're resigned to losing it in the next couple of years so we want to record, photograph and study as much of it as possible."

Parts of the structure will be taken away for further examination and some of it will be exhibited in Folkestone in the future.

The villa itself was built in Roman times but recently, evidence has been unearthed from beneath it which shows the site was used before the occupation, during the Iron Age.

Other recent finds include shards of animal bone, probably from cows and sheep, which led a spokesman for the project's Facebook page to post that "they must have had some great barbecues in the Iron Age".

It was coastal erosion that first exposed the villa in the 1920s when archaeologist SE Winbolt discovered the site while on holiday in the area. He noticed fragments of tile and a stone drain protruding after a cliff fall and soon other items such as Roman pottery were found.

It deteriorated badly during the Second World War when it was occupied by troops defending the cliffs.

During the latest excavation, members of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust are working in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University College and the Folkestone People's History Centre.

They are now desperately seeking volunteers to help with the work.

Mr Parfitt added: "It would be great if people could give us a day or half a day a week of their time.

"It's not just digging work – there are other roles like washing and recording so come down to the site and see us."