Monument Type(s):

• RIVER WHARF (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

This site represents: a river wharf of medieval date.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2070 - 1993 Evaluation of St Julian's Friars area by OxAU
• ESA5849 - 2003-2004 excavations off St Julian's Friars by Marches Archaeology

Description

In 1993 the Oxford Archaeological Unit carried out an evaluation of the St Julians Friars area of Shrewsbury. They found evidence for a moat or ditch to the Town Wall (SA 1095). East of the postulated Friary precinct (SA 1523) it was concluded that the town ditch and wall turned N towards the English Bridge. However, OAU thought that they found evidence for another water channel to the east. This may relate to the feature identified by Blakeway as the gulph, an offensive mud hole long since removed by 1907. Blakeway considered it the site of a bulgerlode, a way to a quay where barges were moored. This may be the context for the deep fill levels, going well below the general alluvial level, found both in the OAU's Trench 8 and in the Archaeology Service's watching brief (Shrewsbury WB93a) in the forecourt of Kenning's Garage (formerly the Barge Garage, built on the site of the Barge Hotel or Inn). A medieval building, (SA 1497), behind the Barge Inn, demolished in the 1920s, may have been a wharf building on the postulated wharf <1>

This location was probably on the river's edge until the creation of Marine Terrace in the 19th century. It was known as the bulgerlode, which may derive from boulgers - makers of leather bags and pouches - who may have worked nearby at the foot of Wyle Cop. Two 18th century illustrations which show vessels moored at this location are reproduced in the report. The excavation trench which located the northward return of the town wall (Trench 1) also shed light on the character of the area immediately outside it. In the 14th to 15th centuries alluvial silts were accumulating rapidly against the wall, but in the early post medieval period, this gave way to a slower accumulation of more humic silts, which culminated in a fairly stable ground surface by the early to mid 18th century. The report argues that the wall itself could never have functioned as a quay (its base and the associated surfaces were too far above average river levels), and that any wharf area here must have been further east, closer to the river <2>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, SMR Sheets Collection, SMR Sheet for PRN SA 04716 (Card index). SSA20723.

<01> Durham B, 1993, St Julians Friars Shrewsbury - an Archaeological Evaluation, p14-15 (Archaeological fieldwork report). SSA4153.

<02> Tavener Nick, 2004, Land formerly belonging to Vincent Greenhous, St Julian's Friars, Shrewsbury: assessment report on archaeological fieldwork with an updated project proposal (Excavation report). SSA22074.

Sources

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