Archaeological Investigations at 5 Bellevue Road, Southampton (SOU1615)
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, 2016. https://doi.org/10.5284/1037858. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
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: 2130
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1037858
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out an archaeological watching brief on groundworks for a development by First Wessex Homes. The site was to the north of the medieval town of Southampton in an area where scattered finds from the prehistoric to the medieval period have been made.
The natural gravel was overlain by brickearth. A ploughsoil contained medieval and post-medieval finds and points to agricultural use of the area, while in the late 18th century the site was incorporated into the grounds of Bellevue House.
Running through the site from north-north-east to south-south-west was a linear feature that appeared to have contained a wooden pipe constructed from tree trunks, long since rotted. It is assumed that this was constructed to bring water from a point further north, possibly the pond/spring that once lay at the south end of Asylum Green and was known as Padwell Pond. If the pipeline was continued in a straight line southwards it would pass through the East Marlands common fields and head towards the Bargate, although this would entail passing under a number of private properties.
The wooden pipe had been replaced by a pipeline made of tapering, unglazed ceramic pipes laid in a clay-packed trench. An early post-medieval date is indicated for this previously unknown part of the town’s water supply. The route of the pipes does not appear on Doswell’s early 19th century map of Southampton’s water supply system, which does show wooden pipes in some areas, suggesting all memory of it had been lost by the time that map was drawn up.
In the late 19th century Bellevue Road was developed with substantial terraced houses with basements which had destroyed the archaeology in the north part of the site. The foundations of the terrace included much re-used medieval masonry from a source unknown, but some architectural fragments and a predominance of Quarr stone suggest a 12-13th century date. The terrace was bombed and cleared post-war.
