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Summary

Evidence for the medieval town ditch was found during an archaeological evaluation excavation at Canal Walk, rear of 104/106a East Street, in 2011 (SOU 1562 Trenches 4 & 5), and a follow-on excavation and environmental sampling in 2015 (SOU 1690 Trench 6). The location was on the eastern town defences, just south of the site of East Gate. Speed’s 1611 map shows a single large ditch immediately south of East Gate, becoming two ditches with a central berm further south. The site was probably in the area of the single wide ditch. The western edge of the town ditch was found some 4m east of the town wall. It was 2.59m deep with a sloping side and a flat base. In the SOU 1562 work, the ditch was thought to be at least 14m wide. The east edge of the inner ditch was not found at the expected location, and possible ditch fills were also found further east; this perhaps confirms Speed’s map. The east edge of the ditch was not investigated in SOU 1690.

There were no surviving medieval fills. The lowest (primary) fill was of 16th century date. There is documentary evidence for the scouring of the ditch in the early 16th century. Above the primary fill were 18th century secondary and tertiary fills, and late 18th century levelling deposits. In the 13th century, the base of the ditch would probably only have been reached by the highest tides and storm surges. Evidence was found of changes to the environmental conditions in the ditch over time.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: None Recorded

Monument Type(s):

• TOWN DITCH (Extant, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1202 AD? to 1799 AD)
• TOWN DITCH (Medieval - 1202 AD? to 1373 AD?)
• TOWN DITCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1500 AD to 1799 AD)

Full description

SOU 1562 Trenches 4 & 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. Trenches 4 and 5 were long E-W trenches, Trench 5 being to the west of Trench 4.

Probable natural brickearth was exposed in Trench 5, its top at 3.76m OD. It was cut by the west edge of the town ditch, about 3.7m east of the town wall. The ditch edge was some 1.75m BMGS and sloped down at about 45 degrees. If deposits found at the east end of Trench 4 were ditch fills, the ditch was at least 14m wide, and its east edge was not located. North of East Street (on SOU 141) the inner ditch was found to be about 12m wide. Just south of East Street/East Gate, Speed’s 1611 map shows the inner and outer ditches with no central berm, apparently confirmed by the evidence from this site.

In Trench 5, a layer overlying the natural brickearth may have been part of the rampart or the weathered edge of the ditch*. About 800mm east of the ditch edge, linear feature 78 may have marked the site of a timber revetment, an undated later insertion, although probably medieval (but see SOU 1690 below). Ditch fills in Trench 5 were of “Tudor date” (containing a few sherds of 16th century pottery). In Trench 4, the earliest deposit was of 18th century date; it and one, perhaps two, overlying deposit were thought to be ditch fills. The base of the ditch was not reached in either trench. (Evidence for depth of ditch from SOU 141 discussed.)

* This was context 80. In the SOU 1690 work it was found to be natural brickearth [3].
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SOU 1690 (archaeological excavation and environmental sampling at the rear of 104–106 East Street in 2015):
[3]: This followed the SOU 1562 work (above). A single trench (trench 6) was dug. The western side and part of the base of the town ditch were exposed (either the inner ditch, or the wide single ditch shown on Speed’s map just south of East Gate). It was 2.59m deep, the flat base being at 1.06m OD (section 9.3: base some 2.75m below the then ground surface, allowing for 250mm of topsoil and turf). The side sloped at about 30 degrees over a distance of some 5m, with a slight step half-way down the side where the natural deposit changed from brickearth to gravel. There was a berm some 4m wide between the town wall and the ditch.

This is the same depth as recorded by Wacher to the north. The water table in July 2015 was encountered at 1.87m OD, some 11cm above present Mean of High Water Springs. Sea level in the Solent region has risen at about 1.1mm a year over the last six millennia. If this has been the case since the town ditch was dug c1200 then Mean of High Water Springs would have been approximately at the level of the base of the ditch when it was dug, so only the highest tides and storm surges could have entered the ditch.

The east edge of the ditch was not investigated in SOU 1690. In the SOU 1562 evaluation, the ditch was thought to be at least 14m wide (see above). North of East Street, the inner ditch on SOU 141 was calculated to be c12m wide.

16th-17th CENTURY PRIMARY DITCH FILLS (500mm + thick, fig 12)
There were no surviving medieval fills. The lowest fill was dated by finds to the 16th century. There is documentary evidence for the scouring of the ditch in 1512-1514.

There was a slow build-up of deposits probably consisting partly of soil eroded from the berm, partly of night soil and partly of kitchen refuse (500mm over 300 years). Most of the bones were small (could this be due to chewing by animals such as dogs and foxes? HER). The environmental evidence suggests long dank wet vegetation, and evidence of local floodwaters. There was no evidence for ingress of sea water. Seasonal standing, and possibly stagnant, water. There were no waterlogged plant remains showing the ditch was not permanently wet, so was not maintained as a town moat. Charred plant material was recovered, probably from hearths. Datable finds included a very small sherd of late medieval pottery, fragments of an Anglo-Norman cooking pot, and two sherds of pottery, of a type in common use after 1500.

[HER 21/1/2016: The geo-archaeological report (Appendix 3, pages 36 & 37) refers to the primary fill as “wet muddy rapid infill”, which contradicts a slow build-up over 300yrs, latter in main text. This might be wrong. Although perhaps the ditch was cleaned again after the early 16th century; the East Street causeway built in 1670 had an arch (see 4.5 and 1772 drawing), which suggests a need to maintain drainage.]

18th CENTURY SECONDARY DITCH FILLS (c650mm thick, fig 12)
Fill 528 contained much gritty lime mortar and fragments of limestone. It ran from the top to the bottom of the ditch and was 260mm thick (more in places, on section drawing). On SOU 1562 this was mistakenly interpreted as a revetment. This deposit may have come from the town wall, perhaps the removal of the west face of the town wall west of the site in the third quarter of the 18th century. This crushed mortar and stone suggests quarrying of the town wall, possibly derived from the robbing of the west face of the town wall to the west when houses were built against the town wall in the late 18th century.

Further soil deposits (c400m thick) built up in the ditch base. These were mostly dumped deposits, topped by fine laminations of washed mud and sand suggesting erosion by rain. Environmental evidence showed a reduction in the long herbaceous vegetation / the site was more open. This fits with 18th century leases which described the ditches as having fish and fishing together with islands, hills, banks, and mounds.

The mollusc evidence suggests pools of water, and the presence of a brackish-water species suggests the sluices to the south under God’s House Tower were no longer keeping out the highest tides. (The base of fill 531, which overlay fill 528 was at c.2m OD, some 200mm above present Mean High Water Springs.) Some snails had probably fallen from the town wall into the ditch.

Dating evidence included a small fragment of post-medieval glass, a 17th-18th century pottery sherd, a late18th—19th century clay pipe bowl and a fragment of post medieval –early modern brick.

18th CENTURY TERTIARY DITCH FILLS (c1m thick)
The uppermost ditch fill, 515, was nearly 1m thick. Odoriferous, slightly stony, very dark greyish brown, silty clay loam, with a lens of gravel towards the base. It contained 17th—18th century artifacts. Environmental evidence suggests drier conditions within the ditch, due to infilling above the ground water table. Blackberry seeds suggests the area was colonised by brambles.

This material was most likely derived from the lower fills of the outer ditch, dug out and used to level the inner ditch when the Southampton canal was built in 1795. This would explain the presence of waterlogged plant material above the water table. (An alternative source might be the excavation for the Town Pond north of East Street, MSH5634, in existence by 1750. If so, the deposits would still have come from the outer ditch. HER)

LATE 18th CENTURY LEVELLING DEPOSITS (c850mm thick, fig 12).
Five thin, fairly level layers were overlain by a c1490mm thick dump deposit that was truncated by recent activity. These deposits are interpreted as levelling deposits. The upper deposit may originally have been about 1m thicker, which would have brought the site up to the level of Canal Walk to the south*. This would have been associated with redevelopment of the area in the late 18th century. The 1771 map shows the ditch as rough ground with trees, whereas the 1802 map shows buildings built along the line of the ditch, and by 1806 Garret’s the stonemasons were occupying the plot.
* I’m not sure what is meant here. Canal Walk, which generally refers to the N/S route, now includes an E/W section immediately south of the site; however in its present form/width this is post-WWII. There was an earlier yard or back street there though, in existence by 1846. HER 21/1/2016
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See separate record for later evidence from these sites.

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

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