Archaeological watching brief on soil investigations at Chapel Riverside, Southampton. (SOU1672)
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, 2016. https://doi.org/10.5284/1038998. How to cite using this DOI
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Primary contact
Dr
Andy
Russel
Archaeology Unit Manager, Ancient Monuments Officer, and War Memorials Officer
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit
18 Melbourne Street
Southampton
SO14 5FB
Tel: +44 (0) 2380 832022
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 2343
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1038998
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit carried out a watching brief on soil investigations at Chapel Riverside, in advance of development. The site had previously been the Town Depot and former Corporation Yard of Southampton City Council.
The aims of the investigation were principally to determine the presence or absence of human use of the area, and the date, type, state of preservation, and extent of that use; to recover associated objects; and to record such evidence as did survive.
Much of the site had been reclaimed from the Itchen in the medieval period to form mill ponds and a tide mill, but prior to that the beach on the west side of the site is assumed to have been the south end of the waterfront for the Middle Saxon town of Hamwic. The soil investigation work did not reveal any archaeological deposits in the area of the supposed waterfront. This may have been due to disturbance caused by late 19th century housing.
The areas of the millponds contained thick deposits of silt, below 19th-20th century backfill. The outer pond could be seen to have been deeper (up to 4.5m), than the inner one (up to 2.6m), probably reflecting the underlying topography of the river terraces beneath. The bank between the two ponds included fragments of brick suggesting it is a post-medieval sub-division of an originally larger pond.
Outside the area of the ponds, and furthest out into the river, intertidal silts were found lying above peat deposits, themselves lying above gravelly clay to a depth of 15m below the ground level. The peat was found at two distinct levels, 6.5m below ground level and 10m below ground level. The site records form the archive, no finds were retained.
