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Summary

Evidence for the inner town ditch was found during archaeological investigations at the former SEB Depot/NCP Car Park site, Back of the Walls in 2014/2015 (SOU 1666). The western edge of the ditch was found in places, and silting deposits in the base overlain by post-medieval and later backfill. It was suggested that the two ditches had merged into a single ditch in the southern part of the site; however this was unproven.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: None Recorded

Monument Type(s):

• TOWN DITCH (dug, Medieval - 1202 AD to 1373 AD?)

Full description

SOU 1666 (evaluation excavation at former SEB Depot/NCP Car Park site, Back of the Walls in 2014)
HER 17/3/2015: This site revealed the cuts and fills of the medieval town ditches, an 18th century ?bastion, and small areas of berm/other earlier deposits. There was much 19th and 20th century disturbance. Most deposits were machined, with little hand excavation. This record refers to evidence for the inner town ditch.
[1]: Evidence for the inner town ditch was found in Trenches 3, 4, 5. (Outer town ditch found in Trenches 2 and 3 – see separate record.)
>> Trench 1. In area of inner ditch, but not deep enough to reach ditch deposits.
>> Trench 3 (western part). Western edge of the inner ditch was found. Severely truncated by modern disturbance. Fill only visible 3m BGS – a blackish blue deposit in base of trench, overlain by infill deposits.
>> Trench 4. Blackish-blue gley – silting deposits in (inner) town ditch. Overlain by ditch infill deposits. One of upper ditch fills cut by two features (410 7 411) (separate record).
>> Trench 5. Natural brickearth on west side of inner town ditch exposed (see Section 16), but not base of ditch. W to E tip lines, suggesting western edge of inner town ditch was very close to the town wall here. The lowest ditch deposit overlay the natural brickearth edge. It was not gleyed. It contained an 18th century pot sherd and a few mortar fragments, but was “otherwise uncontaminated”. Overlying deposits were post-medieval (finds).
>> Trench 5 (NE extension). Dark gleys in base of inner town ditch, overlain by post-medieval infilling. Animal bones recovered from lower ditch deposit 516. Natural gravel in base of ditch recorded at 5.1m BGS.
>> Trench 5 (SE extension). Dark grey silting deposits in base of inner town ditch. Overlain by 19/20 century deposits.
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SOU 1666 (watching brief at the former SEB Depot, Back of the Walls in 2015):
[2]: Trench 6, north end of Site. Fills of the inner town ditch were present in the western part of the trench, and the eastern edge of the ditch was found in the trench base cutting the natural brickearth on the central berm. Immediately to the east, parallel to the inner ditch, was linear feature 605, which also cut the natural brickearth on the berm. The central berm here corresponds broadly in plan with the location of the central berm identified at SOU 397 to the north.

Trench 7, south of Trench 6. Natural brickearth on the central berm was present in the north part of the trench, but not further south. Deposits 716-718 at the north end of the trench were thought to be fills of linear feature 605 (from Trench 6), on the central berm. They were cut by feature 714 (seen in the E-facing section), which “may represent the edge the terminus of the central berm”. Context 715 directly overlay feature 714. Deposits overlying 714 and 715 were probably fills of the town ditch. The lowest (706) was waterlogged. It is suggested that the inner and outer town ditches merged to become a single wide ditch in Trench 7, and remained as such in the southern part of the Site.

Evaluation Trench 3 (reinterpretation). The waterlogged ditch fill recorded at the east end of this trench was probably a fill of a single wide ditch (not a fill of the outer ditch as stated in the appendix of evaluation report [1], HER).

HER 19/5/2017: The deposits exposed in the watching brief were not fully investigated or understood. Different interpretations are possible, and no firm conclusions can be reached on some matters, especially regarding the deposits in Trench 7. In my view, linear feature 605 was probably the true eastern edge of the inner town ditch rather than a separate feature. It is unlikely that Trench 7 deposits 716-718 were fills of 605; they may have been deposits on the central berm, or even (at least in part) bastion rampart deposits. The suggested wide single town ditch in Trench 7 and further south is unproven and other interpretations are possible. Trench 3 was sufficiently to the west to be entirely within the inner ditch. (See HER Comments document [3] for further discussion.)
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Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESH2285 - Evaluation excavation at the former SEB Depot (NCP Car Park), Back of the Walls in 2014 (Ref: SOU 1666)
• ESH2320 - Watching brief at the former SEB Depot (NCP Car Park), Back of the Walls in 2015 (Ref: SOU 1666)

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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