Monument Type(s):

• SETTLEMENT (Roman - 43 AD to 410 AD)

Summary

This site represents: a settlement of Roman date.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA145 - 1977 excavation
• ESA146 - 1992 trial trench by Giffords
• ESA4972 - 1996 evaluation of 34/40 Market Street, Whitchurch by Giffords
• ESA885 - 1995 evaluation of 34/40 Market Street, Whitchurch by Giffords
• ESA95 - 1966 excavation by Manchester University
• ESA6629 - 2011 WB to rear of 56 High Street, Whitchurch by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA8966 - 2019 Excavation and WB rear of 34 High Street, Whitchurch by Aeon Archaeology (Ref: 18/02061/FUL)

Description

CMHTS Comment:- The earliest occupation in this area seems to be military (see SA909). Roman finds and deposits have been encountered in a number of places within this component (SA 5833, 5523, 5908, 5912, 5835) but the main evidence comes from the 1965-6 excavation at Newtown (SA5811) and salvage excavation at Bargates in 1977 (SA5817). ->

-> SEQUENCE:- The small areas excavated and the lack of dating evidence for the defences in SA5811 make interpretation difficult but the development of this area may have been as follows:-
(1) Development of civilian settlement of timber buildings from the late 1st - early 2nd century. This was larger than the area later surrounded by the defences. In this area there is evidence of small scale industry (SA5811) as well as domestic occupation (SA5811; see also SA5916 & 5917).
(2) Demolition of timber buildings on line of town defences cAD170 (SA5817).
(3) Concentration of activity in the area defined by the defences from the late C2 and the erection of a sequence of stone buildings which may have continued in use until the end of the C4 (SA5811). The small scale industry seems to have moved away from the defended area at this time - or away from the area of excavation. Timber buildings may have continued to front the High Street with the large stone buildings offset from this as at Kenchester.
(4) Period of prosperity in the C2 & C3.
(5) Contraction of settlement in the C4 with small scale industry in this area. ->

-> CMHTS COMPONENT BOUNDARIES:- The component is defined by the line of the defences but the position of these is not clear (see SA5868). Parallels with town such as Kenchester, however, suggest that after the erection of the defences the area within the town would have developed differently from that outside. <1>

CMHTS Report. <2>

In 1995 Giffords carried out an archaeological evaluation an area of ground to the rear of 34 to 40 High Street, which was under consideration for redevelopment. Three trial trenches were excavated which revealed a considerable depth of C19 and C20 demolition rubble. This relatively modern building activity was found to have disturbed and removed archaeological deposits so that they only survived as isolated islands. The demolition layers overlay a thick deposit of cultivation soil which in Trenches 1 and 3 sealed Romano British beam slots and a yard surface. These lay within the area of the Roman Fort (PRN 00909). A buried land surface, provisionally dated to the Romano British period, was also observed in trenches 2 and 3. The condition of these features and deposits was poor, due to truncation and disturbance by the modern building activity. <3>

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken within the interior of the structure at 40 High Street, Whitchurch, in 1996, ahead of proposed redevelopment. The evaluation site was located within an area that would have comprised the rear of burgage plots extending back from the High Street during the Medieval period and the shop/house frontage onto the High Street itself. ->

-> The evaluation included the excavation of two trial trenches which revealed a depth of nineteenth and twentieth century demolition rubble and buried walls. This in turn overlay a thick deposit of cultivation soil, sealing a surviving Romano-British horizon and a series of post-Medieval and Medieval pits to the rear of the plot. <4>

No archaeological finds or features were recorded on a watching brief carried out at 56 High Street, Whitchurch, within the former Roman fort of Mediolanum. <5>

An archaeological excavation and watching brief was undertaken as part of the erection of one pair of semi-detached dwellings, formation of vehicular access and parking area on land to the rear of 34-38 High, Whitchurch, Shropshire (centred on NGR SJ 54118 41567) in 2019. ->

-> The archaeological excavation identified three features at the site which produced Roman ceramics; these finds dated from between the mid/late 1st century A.D. to the early 3rd century A.D. The artefacts were found in a small trench (4.25m long by 0.60m wide) in association with a cobbled surface, a small pit and a ditch (all of Roman derivation). The density pattern of these ceramic finds in such a restricted area suggests that these represent an assemblage that is distinctly urban in character. <6>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.