If you have any feedback or new information about this record, please email the Southampton HER (her@southampton.gov.uk).
Data derived from Heritage Gateway will not be acceptable for any use associated with development proposals and other planning matters.

For important guidance on the use of this record, please click here . © Southampton City Council

Summary

Prehistoric and Roman/Romano-British evidence found during archaeological excavations at York Buildings/Bargate Centre and North Walls between 1983 and 1992 (SOU 175). Many early deposits were of uncertain date and may have been of prehistoric, Roman or (in some cases) early medieval date. Finds from the site, many residual, included Neolithic/Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman/Romano-British artefacts. In one part of the site (Trenches 5 and 18) a group of features of probable Iron Age date were found, including a probable round house, a rectilinear enclosure, some postholes, pits and a large ditch.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other References/Statuses

• HER backup file (new series): SOU 175  digital & paper (etc)
• Old Southampton SMR No/Backup file: SU 4211 NW 1  

Monument Type(s):

• DITCH (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• HOLLOW (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• LINEAR FEATURE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC? to 42 AD?)
• PIT (Prehistoric - 500000 BC? to 42 AD?)
• POST HOLE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• SITE LAYER (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• STAKE HOLE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? to 701 BC?)
• FINDSPOT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? to 701 BC?)
• CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE (Iron Age - 800 BC? to 42 AD?)
• DITCH (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• LINEAR FEATURE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• PIT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• POST HOLE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• DITCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• LINEAR FEATURE (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• PIT (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• POST HOLE (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• SITE LAYER (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)
• STAKE HOLE (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD?)

Full description

SOU 175 (excavations at York Buildings (the Bargate Centre) and North Walls between 1983 and 1992):

HER 19/11/10: This long running series of excavations is mentioned in various annual reports listed here. The site was not taken beyond the "provisional phasing" stage of post-excavation work and there is no final report. An interim report [12] was prepared as a guide to future post-excavation work. The dating in report [12] is provisional, based on stratigraphic relationships and initial analysis of pottery and a few other finds. The report provides a summary of the provisional phases for each trench but does not give a finds summary, so periods represented only as residual finds are not mentioned. "Prehistoric" is not broken down into different periods in [12].
--------------------------------------------------------------
NEOLITHIC/BRONZE AGE PERIOD

[3]: In Trenches 1 and 3, a "surface scatter" of 34 worked flints were found, including various forms of scraper. There was no distinct pattern to the scatter and most of the flints had been incorporated in later features. They possibly belong to the Neolithic/Bronze Age period, although were not necessarily all of the same period.

[9]: Trenches 1 and 3 lay to the west of York Buildings.

See also [10] and [11].

IP 11/9/02: There may be more worked flints of this date from other SOU 175 trenches. The sources available in the SMR backup file do not mention such finds from other trenches, however the archive has not been checked for these.

IRON AGE

[1][2][3][4][5]: On this large area excavation, settlement evidence dating to the Iron Age was found. A V-profiled ditch, circular gully (12m diameter, possibly a round house), linear features/gullies (including 3 linear features lying at right angles to each other and possibly forming an enclosure), four postholes, pits, etc. were assigned to the Iron Age phase. Pottery and 6 worked flints of Iron Age date were also found.

[3][6]: The upper fill of the V-profiled ditch contained some 4th/5th century Romano-British pottery, but otherwise the ditch was dated to the Iron Age.

[6]: S Davies has dated some of the pottery from the circular gully to the Bronze Age, although the gully is thought to be Iron Age because it was associated with Iron Age features.

IP 12/9/02: From memory, the clearest evidence for a settlement occurred in Trenches 5 and 18, where the V-profiled ditch, possible round house and rectilinear enclosure were found. In these two trenches, the prehistoric levels were less effected by later disturbance than elsewhere. Trenches 5 and 18 covered the former York Buildings road and area immediately to the east. [7] is a sketch plan showing the main features.
--------------------------------------------------------------
[12]: INTERIM REPORT on SOU 175 excavations. Summary of provisional phases, by trench.

TRENCH 1
Prehistoric / Roman
- V-profile ditch and layer.

TRENCH 2
Prehistoric / Early Medieval?
- 0.2m of 'grey' deposits noted above natural. These may have dated anywhere between the prehistoric and Late Saxon/early medieval periods.

TRENCH 3
Prehistoric / Roman?
- A layer and small features.

TRENCH 4
Prehistoric / Roman?
- A sequence of deposits as follows: layer; 3 stakeholes and 2 postholes; layer; 104 stakeholes; narrow gully.

TRENCH 5
This trench contained, along with adjoining Trench 18, the best prehistoric evidence. (An Iron Age pit was found nearby to the SW on SOU 141.)
A possibly natural soil layer was found.

Prehistoric deposits:
- A layer cut by a stakehole
- A penannular ditch with an opening to the south-east, probably a roundhouse, 11.5m in diameter (also found in T18), with no obvious internal features surviving
- Stakeholes on or near outer edge of ?roundhouse
- 2 layers sealing roundhouse
- V-profiled ditch cutting these layers, aligned roughly WNW/ESE, producing Iron Age pottery
- shallower recut of ditch.

Prehistoric / Roman / Early Medieval?
- Over 100 miscellaneous stakeholes cutting the backfills of the recut ditch. These were sealed by two layers.
- Numerous stakeholes or postholes were found within the circumference of roundhouse. Many were found in the bottom of early medieval structural features, but as they are not dated they may belong to any early phase.
- 80 or more stakeholes
- 12 postholes
- 2 short linear features (possible plank slots)
- 3 layers

TRENCH 6
Prehistoric / Roman / Early Medieval?
A group of contexts at the western end of the trench, overlying a slump in the natural, may be prehistoric, Roman or even early medieval (see also Trench 21):
- Redeposited brickearth
- E/W ditch
- Cobble layer on north side of ditch
- Localised gravel spread
- Gravelly layer sealing all of west end.

TRENCH 7
Prehistoric (perhaps Iron Age) or Roman
- possible pit or ditch with fills of redeposited brickearth (only part-excavated).

Prehistoric, Roman or early medieval
- Layer/layers, some possibly natural, some possibly prehistoric, some certainly early medieval. This was a thin leached brickearth horizon, scattered across the trench, excavated in part as two successive contexts, but no features were either clearly sealed by it or within it (however there was no time for a final clean-up of the trench to definitely confirm this).

TRENCH 8
Prehistoric or early medieval
- Two layers found below the town wall. Otherwise, modern features had removed all deposits above natural between the town ditch and town wall.

TRENCH 9
Prehistoric, Roman or early medieval
- A possible prehistoric/Roman (or early medieval) layer was found above natural, cut by 2 small features.

TRENCH 10
- Although natural deposits were reached in this trench, the earliest archaeological evidence dated to the early medieval period.

TRENCH 11
Prehistoric, Roman or early medieval
- Natural was not reached in this trench. The earliest layers produced no dating evidence and could have been prehistoric to early medieval in date. Residual prehistoric and Roman pottery was found in later deposits.

TRENCH 12
Prehistoric/Roman?
- Two possible Roman features were found. They were a curving gully, which produced grog-tempered pot and some finer wares, and a shallow depression. Only a very small area of natural brickearth was exposed, so that these features might form part of a larger spread.

Roman/early medieval
- These features were sealed by a thin layer which produced Roman pottery and a few small early medieval sherds.

TRENCH 13
Prehistoric, Roman or early medieval
- Some layers and a posthole were undated but stratigraphically early. (It is noted that Iron Age evidence was found nearby on SOU 141 and on other SOU 175 trenches, so was expected in this trench.)

TRENCH 14
This large trench was not fully excavated and natural brickearth was not encountered.

TRENCHES 15A-D
In Trenches 15A, B and D, natural brickearth was reached but the earliest layers were early medieval.
In Trench 15C, natural brickearth was not reached and deposits were medieval and later.

TRENCH 15E
Prehistoric or early medieval
- Three layers above natural, cut by early medieval features.

TRENCH 16
This large trench was not fully excavated and natural brickearth was not encountered.

TRENCH 17
The natural brickearth had been truncated by later features and the earliest evidence found was early medieval.

TRENCH 18 (large trench connecting TRENCHES 4 and 5)
Prehistoric/Roman
- Layer, possibly natural
- 3 square-sectioned linear gullies, running NW/SE/NW in a zig-zag. Respective lengths 18.7m, 14m, 9m, totalling 41.7m. Probably a fence or palisade trench, enclosing the "roundhouse" which sits within its angle.
- 4 postholes within cut of these gullies.
- Shallow depression, containing pottery and worked flint.
- "Roundhouse" (see Trench 5)
- Two layers and a linear feature
- Ditch, cutting one of the layers and the linear feature, being the continuation of T5 ditch

Possible prehistoric or Roman (undated early features)
- 3 pits
- 13 small shallow features.

TRENCH 19
Prehistoric to early medieval
- 0.5m of undated deposits

TRENCH 20
Natural brickearth was reached but the earliest deposits were early medieval.

TRENCH 21 (excavation/watching brief)
?Prehistoric/Roman to early medieval
- In hole 8, undated contexts observed below the pre-rampart subsoil were gravelly lenses, brickearth lenses and an E/W ditch. These were certainly an extension of similar contexts seen in the adjoining part of Trench 6.

TRENCH 22
Natural brickearth was not reached in this trench.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESH175 - Excavations at York Buildings (the Bargate Centre) and North Walls between 1983 and 1992 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2022 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 1 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2023 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 2 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2024 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 3 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2025 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 4 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2026 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 5 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2027 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 6 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2028 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 7 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2029 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 8 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2030 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 9 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2032 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 11 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2033 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 12 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2034 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 13 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2036 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 15 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2039 - Excavations at York Buildings (The Bargate Centre) - Trench 18 (Ref: SOU 175)
• ESH2040 - Excavations at North Walls - Trench 19 (Ref: SOU 175)

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).

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