Data copyright © Southampton City Council unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Matthew F
Garner
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit
18 Melbourne Street
Southampton
SO14 5FB
Tel: 023 8083 2937
The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out an evaluation excavation at Erskine Court in May 2014. The work was commissioned by Drew Smith Ltd.
The evaluation aims were to determine the extent, condition, nature, character, quality, and date of any archaeological remains encountered, as dictated by current best practice, in order for a decision to be made as to the need for further archaeological work.
Natural deposits were the gravels of River Terrace 6, over London Clay. The earliest evidence of human activity was a pit that contained flint flakes and large quantities of burnt flint. It was probably prehistoric. Buried soil was present across the whole site. Its date is uncertain but it probably represents hundreds of years of natural processes and occasional agricultural use. It was cut by a ditch that ran parallel with Rownhams Lane (north-west to south-east), just beyond the south-west boundary of the site. The age of this lane and the ditch are uncertain but the lane first appears on maps of the early 19th century and the ditch contained 19th century china at its base. Another ditch was on a similar alignment but was a separate ditch. Fragments of coal and brick indicate that it was also backfilled in the 19th century or later. Modern deposits included rubble and topsoil and were associated with the construction of Erskine Court. Few pre-modern artefacts were present and no evidence for Roman, Saxon or medieval activity was found.
The prehistoric pit is in a part of the development that will remain as soft landscaping.