Summary

A 55m length of the medieval city ditch was excavated along Bond Street in 2005. Sherds of medieval pottery were found in the ditch along with a number of leather shoes.

Monument Type(s):

• FENCE (Later Medieval - 1403 AD to 1403 AD)
• STAKE HOLE (Later Medieval - 1403 AD to 1403 AD)
• TOWN DEFENCES (Later Medieval - 1403 AD to 1403 AD)
• TOWN DITCH (Later Medieval - 1403 AD to 1403 AD)

Protected Status: None recorded

Full description

1> A c55m length of the in-filled city ditch was exposed along the south-east edge of the site where its former north-east to south-west orientation is respected by that of the later, surviving Bond Street, and hence also the city wall whose remnants lie buried beneath the carriageway. Although the eastern shoulder of the ditch lay beyond the site boundary, probably beneath the Bond Street pavement, a near-complete ditch profile was exposed in three 5m-wide, stepped, hand-dug sections. These indicated that the open ditch had originally measured in excess of 12m wide and about 3m deep at this point in its circuit around the city. The ditch was cut through a buried subsoil containing pottery sherds dating to the 13th and 14th centuries which accords with the documented date of 1403 for its creation. The presence of a low counterscarp bank formed from material up-cast during cutting is indicated by a clay deposit which was visible in a narrow strip in the section created along the Hill Street side of the excavation and only surviving within a small island and where it departed the site on the extreme west…Shortly after cutting, a wattle fence appears to have been woven between upright stakes driven into the geology just below the outer edge of the ditch. A line of stakeholes, some preserving the remnants of the timber stakes, were found in situ a metre or so downslope from the ditch edge. In the northernmost section some of the interwoven wattling was also found collapsed along the line of the fence…Overlying the basal fills of each ditch section were thick deposits of dark grey silty clay…particularly noted for their high organic content. Close inspection of these fills suggested that they were made up of a succession of fine lenses indicative of a process of gradual silting and organic decomposition which resulted in the ditch being silted-up to half its original depth. Dating for this episode was provided by a pottery assemblage dominated by sherds of Chilvers Coton 'C' ware which dates through to c 1500 and by a significant number of leather shoes whose styles date from the late 14th to late 15th centuries. A smaller number of sherds from fabrics such as Midland Purple, Cistercian and Tudor Green wards, along with the presence of Glazed Red Earthenwares might suggest that the upper levels of these fills were still accumulating in the early 16th century (p.32-34).
Plot J. The next plot in 1393 was occupied by Richard Merebrooke. His neighbours were described as Richard Freeberne and Richard Duddeleye (CA: BA/B/16/14/5). This comprises occupation of the plot before it was dug up to create the city ditch in 1403 (p. 9).

<1> Northamptonshire Archaeology, 2008, Archaeological Excavations at Belgrade Plaza, Coventry, 2005-2007: Volume 1 - Text, p.32-34; p.9 (--EXCAVATION REPORT). SCT705.

Sources and Further Reading

Associated Finds

• FCT167 - SHERD (Earlier Medieval to 18th Century - 1201 AD to 1800 AD)
• FCT168 - SHOE (Later Medieval to Tudor - 1351 AD to 1500 AD)

Associated Events

• ECT501 - Bond Street/Belgrade Plaza

Related records

Images

Excavated stretch of the medieval town ditch, Bond Street © Coventry City Council

Excavated section of the medieval town ditch, Bond Street, 2005 © Coventry City Council

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