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Summary

Limestone walls were found during archaeological investigations at the former SEB Depot/NCP Car Park site, Back of the Walls in 2014/2015 (SOU 1666). The walls were aligned north-south and east-west. The archaeological and documentary evidence suggests that the north-south walls were the western edge of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal (MSH622), albeit with parts robbed out or destroyed. The east-west wall may have been built to support the remains of the south edge of the earlier bastion (MSH2241), known to have been present in this area. Alternatively, the east-west wall may have been part of a later building or boundary wall.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: None Recorded

Monument Type(s):

• CANAL (Built, Post Medieval - 1790 AD to 1799 AD)
• WALL (Built, Post Medieval - 1790 AD to 1799 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 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 outlines evidence for the canal.

[2]: (Section 7.3.1.) No evidence of the canal was recorded. It appears to have been entirely removed by modern disturbance. “The exact location of the canal within the site is uncertain although the most likely location is on the alignment of the present-day Canal Walk, where the presence of modern infilling suggests very little of it will have survived.”

HER 17/3/2015: Despite the above statement, [2] does suggest that remains of the canal may have been present in Trench 2 (see 5.2.6). Here, a N-S aligned limestone wall (209) was thought to be the wall of an 18th century bastion (MSH2241). At its southern end, wall 209 was overlain by E-W limestone wall 210, of similar construction as the upper part of wall 209, although extending beyond the east face of wall 209. On map evidence, wall 210 is not thought to be part of the bastion. It is suggested that wall 209 was later incorporated into the canal, and, with wall 210, formed a lock or wharf here. A further small section of E-W limestone wall (229) had an uncertain relationship with wall 210. This suggestions appears to be supported by Sections 11 & 12, which show the waterlogged lower “outer town ditch” fills butting against the sloping side of wall 209. If so, the “ditch” fills were canal fills.) (See MSH2241 for further details of these walls.)

(See final copy of interim report [1] for full map regression, although text is not updated.)
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SOU 1666 (watching brief at the former SEB Depot, Back of the Walls in 2015):
[3]: The watching brief was confined to the northern area of the Site.

The limestone walls 209 and 210, exposed in evaluation Trench 2, were re-exposed in Trench 6a. Further limestone walls were found a short distance to the south in Trenches 7 and 8 (wall 710 and wall 801). Walls 209 and 710 were on a similar N/S alignment, although discontinuous; wall 209 appeared to have been robbed out at the south end of Trench 6a. Wall 710 terminated at the south end of Trench 8, forming a corner with E/W wall 801. Wall 801 extended westwards 3.8m, then terminated.

The physical and documentary evidence indicates that the N/S walls formed the western edge of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal (MSH622), albeit with parts robbed out or destroyed in places. The walls were not part of the bastion (so the initial interpretation in [2] is now rejected). Doswell’s early 19th century Water Map [5] shows that the canal was located in the eastern part of the Site. E/W wall 210 may have been part of a later building or boundary wall, built with stone robbed from the N/S wall after the canal had gone out of use.

HER 19/5/2017: See HER Comments document [4] for different interpretations of the results of the watching brief. The main interpretations relating to the stone walls and canal seem sound, although the evidence is not fully understood due to the limitations of the watching brief. The limestone walls in Trenches 2, 6a, 7 and 8 may have been built to support the sides of the canal where it passed the bastion. Although the bastion had perhaps already been reduced by then, the deposits used to finally backfill the town ditches during construction of the canal (some Trench 7 deposits for instance). Wall 801 and N/S wall 710 appeared to be associated; perhaps they defined the SE corner of the bastion remains. Against this suggestion, stone walls forming the west edge of the canal have also been found to the south of this site. In the context index of report [3], a “clay lining of canal” was identified (context 723), an initial interpretation that was later rejected by the report author, but it may be correct. Mixed deposits seen between Trench 7 and Canal Walk were probably backfills of the canal.
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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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