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Summary

Evidence for a Roman defensive wall was found during an archaeological excavation at Hawkeswood Road in 1989 (SOU 414). A wide band of deep stakeholes were found; these were perhaps piles for a stone wall. A possible robber trench was found, dug to remove a stone wall and piled foundations. The stakeholes cut a possible gravel rampart (MSH2700).

Protected Status: None recorded

Other References/Statuses

• HER backup file (new series): SOU 414  (paper & digital) etc
• Old Southampton SMR No/Backup file: SU 4313 SW 8A  

Monument Type(s):

• PILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• ROBBER TRENCH (Roman to Post Medieval - 43 AD? to 1800 AD?)
• STAKE HOLE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TOWN WALL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

SOU 414 (excavations and watching brief at Hawkeswood Road in 1989 and 1990):
[1][3]: The natural deposits were coarse gravels. The following were found in Trench 1, a Ne-SW orientated trench adjacent to the Bitterne Road frontage*. A possible gravel bank was found parallel to the shoreline; it was interpreted as a gravel rampart, built either as a military feature or a river defence quite early in the Roman occupation of the site. It was cut by deep stakeholes in a 2.1m wide band. These may represent piles, perhaps for a stone wall, later robbed (see [2] below). (A similar feature was found on a Cotton and Gathercole site in the 1950s; this was probably the same structure.)

[2]: (Further concerning the robber trench.) Feature 204 was a N-S aligned feature which "levelled down the area on the shoreline over the group of stakeholes" (fig 6). It was probably a robber trench, dug to remove the masonry wall and piled foundations. The cut was filled with a gravel and mortar mix, similar to the fills of the stakeholes. The construction and demolition of the wall could not be tied in stratigraphically with the main sequence of deposits elsewhere on the site.

(See MSH1661 for all Roman evidence from the site and MSH2700 for the evidence for the rampart. Only features associated with the possible wall are indexed on this record.)

* Trench 1 is not shown on any of the figures in these sources, although a label "T1" is marked.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESH414 - Excavations and Watching Brief at Hawkeswood Road in 1989 and 1990 (Ref: SOU 414)

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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