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

Probable medieval town rampart deposits found during an archaeological evaluation excavation at Canal Walk, rear of 104/106a East Street, in 2011 (SOU 1562 Trenches 1, 2, 3 & 5). The deposits extended below the town wall, which here survives above-ground, and appeared to extend to the town ditch. It was not clear if the town wall was built in a trench cut into the rampart, or the rampart had been built to a level, the wall built, and then the rampart raised behind it.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: None Recorded

Monument Type(s):

• RAMPART (Built, Medieval - 1202 AD to 1373 AD)
• TOWN DEFENCES (Built, Medieval - 1202 AD to 1373 AD)

Full description

SOU 1562 Trenches 1, 2, 3 & 5 (archaeological evaluation excavation at Canal Walk, rear of 104/106a East Street, in 2011):
[1] (and [2]): The site was not far south of East Street, on the line of the eastern town wall and town ditches. Trench 1 was next to the west face of the town wall. Trenches 2 and 3 were both next to the east face of town wall, and in Trench 3 a small sondage was dug below the wall. In Trench 2, later structural features had removed much of the deposits immediately below the wall. Trench 5 was east of the wall, on the line of the town ditch.

The earliest deposits found in Trenches 1 to 3 were probable rampart deposits, which extended below the town wall. (Similar deposits were found on SOU 1482 to the south.) A possible rampart deposit was also found in Trench 5, on the edge of the ditch.
- Trench 1, one layer, no finds.
- Trench 2, two layers, one containing 2 Late Saxon to Anglo-Norman pottery sherds, and a late medieval roof tile fragment considered to be intrusive, the other contained an 11-12th century pottery sherd.
- Trench 3, three layers, one containing 10 Anglo-Norman pottery sherds, limestone rubble, iron slag and animal bone.
The rampart beneath the town wall incorporates (Late Saxon to) Anglo-Norman artefacts, probably because soil deposits of that period were scraped up from the ditch area to construct it. Rampart deposits survive at/close to modern ground level next to the wall. The east side of the rampart probably sloped down directly to the side of the town ditch, only 3m away (sloping layer found in Trench 3). There appears to have been no berm between the ditch and rampart.

The town wall here is built into the rampart. It was not clear if the wall was built in a trench cut into the rampart, or the rampart had been built to a level, the wall built, and then the rampart raised behind it.

SOU 1690 (archaeological excavation at the rear of 104–106 East Street in 2015):
[3]: (This followed the SOU 1562 work. No evidence was found relating to the town rampart.)

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESH2081 - Evaluation excavation rear of 104/106a East Street (on Canal Walk/Back of the Walls) in 2011 (Ref: SOU 1562)
• ESH2336 - Excavation rear of 104-106 East Street (on Canal Walk/Back of the Walls) in 2015 (Ref: SOU 1690)

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.