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Hertfordshire HER
.
| HHER Number: | 9832 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | DITCH, PROBABLY THE EASTERN DEFENCES OF THE SOUTHERN BURH AT HERTFORD |
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Summary - not yet available
Monument Types
- DITCH (Late Saxon - 870 AD to 1065 AD)
Associated Events
- Excavation at Bircherley Green, Hertford, 1979
- Excavation of the car park at 31-33 Railway Street, Hertford, 1973
Full description
A large ditch 2.3m deep and approx. 6m wide was discovered during excavations at Railway Street, Hertford, in 1973. It ran in a north-west/south-east direction and appears to have been backfilled in the 12th century <1>. It was also found on the same alignment approx. 35m to the north during excavations in 1980. Here it was 2m deep and 6m wide and evidence survived of an internal bank. This length appeared to have silted up naturally in the 12th century <2>. The most convincing interpretation of the ditch is as part of the eastern defences of the 10th century southern burh at Hertford [9828] <3>. The defences as originally constructed probably comprised a ditch with internal bank and a wooden palisade on the bank <4>.
Pottery found included shelly wares (11th century) and sherds in 'a hard sandy fabric' <5>.
Sources and further reading
| <1> | Article in serial: Hertfordshire Mercury. 9.11.1973, p13 |
| <1> | Article in serial: Petchey, M R. 1977. Excavations in Hertford 1973-4; Herts Archaeology 5, 157-75. |
| <2> | Report: Anon. 1996. The Hertford central project: excavations in Hertford, 1977-1993. Part 1, updated project design; appendix 1: assessment reports. archive assessment. RNO 432 p8-9 |
| <5> | Article in serial: Turner-Rugg, Alison. 1993. Medieval pottery in Hertfordshire: a gazetteer of the principal collections; Herts Archaeology 11, 30-53. - p40 |
| <6> | Unpublished document: Partridge, Clive. n.d.. Hertford Railway St - Bircherley Green. |
| 3, 4 | Bibliographic reference: Kiln, R J, & Partridge, C R. 1995. Ware and Hertford: the story of two towns from birth to middle age. - p78-84, 144-5 |
Related records
| 9828 | Part of: SOUTHERN SAXON BURH, HERTFORD (Monument) |
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