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Wessex Archaeology
Portway House
Old Sarum Park
Salisbury
SP4 6EB
UK
Tel: 01722 326867
Fax: 01722 337562
This collection comprises of site data from an archaeological watching brief during the groundworks for the construction of an extension to the rear of the building at 46 High Road, Southampton, SO16 2JF. Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by MYA Property Ltd to carry out the watching brief.
The monitored works comprised the excavation of a series of foundation trenches and pads for the new extension. These covered an area of 155.43 m2. The foundation trenches measured 0.60 m wide while the two pads measured approximately 2 m by 3 m. The depth of the foundations ranged from 0.85 m to 1.20 m below the current ground level.
Two different deposits of natural Brickearth were encountered during the monitoring of the groundworks. The upper deposit seemed to have been weathered, most likely during or soon after its formation. Observations during the excavation of the foundations and pads on the northern and southern edges of the Site showed that the upper interface of this deposit had been truncated during the construction of the existing building. The interface between the upper and lower brickearth deposits was intact and observed between 11.25 m and 10.80 m aOD at the western and eastern ends of the foundations respectively.
Only one modern feature was encountered during the monitoring of the groundworks. Over the majority of the Site, and particularly in the west, it was observed that the surface of the upper brickearth deposit, as well as the original topsoil and subsoil, had been truncated by the original and subsequent building work, removing any possible or potential archaeological features or deposits. However, due to this construction and truncation of the original ground surface it is unclear if there were any archaeological features or deposits present prior to this. It is therefore possible that further work in the immediate area could reveal surviving archaeology. The watching brief was carried out on the 21 and 23 January 2019.