| Summary: | Wall exposed during groundworks, in advance of the construction of a new fire station, on land off Charlotte Street, at what would have been the rear section of burgage plots. The wall extended for 26m across the full depth of the site, aligned north-south, and was constructed of mud-bonded random uncoursed limestone and volcanic stone. It measured approximately 0.5m wide and was set within a foundation trench of 0.4m deep. The wall represents a tenement boundary and is depicted on the Tithe Map of 1839. The wall was abutted by footings to two further walls (both corresponding to walls shown on the Tithe Map); one 3.5m, abutted from the west, and one 1m long section, abutted from the east. A fourth wall continued the line of the main wall, possibly blocking access through the main wall from the east. All of the wall footings were convered by an uneven deposit up to 0.25m thick, consisting of a firm, dark red sandy clay with occasional stones, and fragments of slate and tile. This is interpreted as the remnants of the collapsed cob superstructure of the main wall. A wall of this nature, on a parallel alignment, still forms the boundary of the adjoining plot to the west. Although no dating evidence was found, it is likely that the walls are of relatively late date (i.e. 17th/18th century) although the main wall may represent the line of an earlier, possibly medieval tenement boundary. |
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