Site Data from an Archaeological Watching brief at 2 Bishops Road, Southampton 2018 (SOU 1794)
Wessex Archaeology, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1086801. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4040
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1086801
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises of site data from an archaeological watching brief at land adjacent to 2 Bishops Road Southampton, and to the rear of 65/67 Radstock Road, undertaken by Wessex Archaeology.
A single archaeological feature was observed. A large ditch ran northeast to southwest across the site, observed in four of the foundation trenches. It was measured as 1.4m wide and 0.5m deep but the level of disturbance on site suggests it may have been higher and wider. It was not bottomed as this was below the depth of the foundation trenches. A gravel rich primary fill was apparent on its north-eastern side and a dark greyish brown sandy silt formed the rest of the fill.
It is unclear whether this was a tertiary or deliberate fill. The ditch is likely to have been a modern feature and the main fill probably represents a deliberate backfilling at the time of the construction of the housing. The housing first appears on an OS County Series map dated 1909-1910 (Old-maps.co.uk). Shortly before this in 1898, mapping shows a field boundary ditch in the same place and on the same alignment as 111. On this map the field boundary looks slightly out of place, but the OS County Series map for 1880-1881 shows that it is the northern boundary of Heaths Copse.
The site was heavily disturbed and there is a strong indication that the river gravels have been moved within the site but at their very base look to be in situ and therefore probably represent the remains of River Terrace 4 on the Solent River.The watching brief was able to observe that the area is heavily disturbed by modern housing but has the potential to hold archaeological remains and material of geoarchaeological interest.
