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Summary

A well-built, east-west aligned, limestone wall was partly exposed during a watching brief on groundworks at 1 Forest View in 2003 (SOU 1232). The limited dating evidence suggests it was of late medieval or later date. The wall is thought to be part of an east-west wall shown on Speed's 1611 map, dividing the inner bailey of Southampton Castle (see MSH3412).

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: None Recorded

Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE? (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1618 AD)
• WALL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1350 AD? to 1611 AD)

Full description

SOU 1232 (watching brief on underpinning groundworks at 1 Forest View in 2003):
[1]: The site lies across the location of a former natural cliff, now buried beneath later deposits. The top of the natural cliff was found approximately 9m east of the west wall of the outer bailey of Southampton Castle (which lies west of 1 Forest View). The cliff was formed of natural gravel, overlain in part by natural brickearth.

Between the outer bailey wall and the cliff, a well-built limestone wall (049) was found. The wall was aligned E-W. The base of this wall was not exposed, the exposed part being at least 1.32m high, with a maximum surviving width of 0.55m. The wall was traced for at least 5m E-W; it continued beyond the limit of excavation to the west, and possibly continued east of the exposed length. The near-vertical north face was butted by a post-medieval dump deposit (separate record). The south face had been cut away by an early modern drain. The wall included some reused masonry, including a possible voussoir. Two sherds of pottery recovered from the mortar during demolition suggest a late medieval or later date for the wall. (fig 4 photo, figs 10 and 11 sections.)

The wall is interpreted as being an E-W wall shown on Speed's 1611 map as dividing the inner bailey of the castle. It is perhaps part of the same structure as SOU 996 wall 065, which butted against the eastern face of the castle bailey wall outside 1 Forest View (although interpreted differently in the SOU 996 report). Wall 049 was probably on the same alignment as a robbed-out foundation trench found in Maddison Street some 30m to the east (SOU 29, context 3022). This wall would have crossed the inner bailey and continued down the cliff face to join the castle defences that ran along the shoreline at the foot of the cliff. On SOU 29, it was suggested that a wide ditch ran to the north of this wall, but no trace of such a ditch was found beneath 1 Forest View or has been seen during watching briefs beneath properties to the north. Had such a ditch existed, it might not have reached the cliff edge. At this point, the cliff was closer to the shore than it was further north on Forest View, and this is perhaps why the wall was built here.

IP 20/2/07: There is no location plan showing this wall in [1]. The wall has been roughly plotted in the GIS using the fig 10 section and description in text.

SCC HER 20/11/09: See parent record MSH3412 for the E-W wall shown on Speed's 1611 map.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESH1472 - Watching Brief at 1 Forest View in 2003 (Ref: SOU 1232)

Related records

Associated Links: None recorded

If you have any feedback or new information about this record, please email the Southampton HER (her@southampton.gov.uk).

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