Series: Southampton Archaeology Unit unpublished report series

Groundworks for the construction of a block of flats, two houses and refuse and cycle stores at 179 to 183 Fratton Road were observed on behalf of PMC Construction and Development Services Ltd. Trenches exposed natural deposits, a pit dating to between AD 1550 and 1900 and modern contexts. Medieval Fratton was not identified at this watching brief but much of the site had been disturbed by modern building work.

An archaeological excavation was carried out at Old Park Farm, Waterlooville between April and November 2008 in advance of a 38.31ha mixed development by Taylor Wimpey plc. The excavation involved the stripping of 29,647sq m of grassland in areas where geophysical survey and evaluation trenches had located archaeology. Trench A was 11,290sq m, with an unexcavated tree protection zone running diagonally across it. Trench B was 12,670sq m in size, also with an unexcavated tree protection zone running across it. Trench C consisted of three trenches totalling 5687 sq m. The excavation method consisted of stripping off the top soil and plough soil until archaeology or the natural was revealed. Some 150mm of topsoil was removed and the plough soil beneath was carefully stripped off in spits, each of some 20mm, until archaeological features were revealed. At the request of the Local Planning Authority as soon as an area had been stripped it was subject to a metal detector survey with a Laser Scout and all metalwork was removed from features. Environmental samples of soils and archaeological deposits were taken as advised by Dr M Allen, the Environmental Co-ordinator for the site, who visited the site once the trenches had been stripped and advised on the recovery of samples and inspected the buried soils and sediments. The centre of the site revealed a small farmstead marked by a complex Late Iron Age—early Romano-British ditch system, cut into the underlying London Clay. The earliest phase was marked by a scatter of pits and two ditches possibly forming a funnel shaped entrance into an enclosure just outside the excavated area. The next phase, mid-1st century AD, was marked by a single curvilinear ditch with evidence for a structure inside a small enclosure, together with some waterholes. This was replaced with a sub-circular enclosure placed fairly symmetrically over the earlier curvilinear ditch. The ditches may have formed a defence around the settlement, delineated fields or stock enclosures, or functioned as drains to keep the central area of the settlement dry. A number of large deep pits seem to have functioned as waterholes, as they contained little evidence for the deposition of cess or domestic rubbish. Most of the artefacts recovered were found in the ditches, which showed evidence of fairly rapid silting, and some re-cutting. One shallow pit within the enclosure had been filled with the smashed and burnt fragments of two querns and a Southern Spanish amphora. In the south part of the site a stream had created a gravel plain which was a focus for activities. The focus of the settlement then shifted slightly north where the ditches and waterholes of a sub-rectangular enclosure showed evidence of occupation into the 2nd century AD, although the ditches may have originally been contemporary with the sub-circular enclosure. The ditches of both enclosures were filled by the mid-2nd century, the upper levels containing a number of artefact-rich assemblages marked by large amounts of pottery and quern fragments. A few fragments of slag suggest blacksmithing took place during the later phases of the site. Non-local British wares formed 0.1% of the pottery assemblage by sherd count and imports formed 2.4% of the assemblage suggesting the farmstead was situated towards the lower end of the social scale. After the enclosure ditches had finally silted up settlement seems to have ceased but later, perhaps in the late roman period, a large deep waterhole was dug at the lowest point of the site on the crossing point of two early ditches. It was provided with a flint-cobbled surround which would have prevented stock sinking into the mud. A second waterhole, perhaps for use by the stock herders, was dug nearby. During the medieval period the area became heavily wooded and formed part of the Forest of Bere.

The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out a programme of archaeological building recording at 14 Spring Crescent, Southampton. This was in advance of the erection of a first floor extension to the east elevation and associated changes to the front elevation. The archaeological survey was made to level 1 as defined by English Heritage (Historic England 2006). The property was recorded on two separate occasion, prior to the opening up when there were still students living in the property, and again when the opening had been cut through. On both occasions the opportunity was taken to record the other rooms in the building. The soft strip of the interior of the house was carried out as permitted development. The building was a mid-19th century detached villa-style house. Historic maps show the area was laid out after the Portswood House estate was sold in the mid-19th century. The house first appeared on the 1871 Ordnance Survey map. The 1871 census shows the residents were the Pearce family. The hole cut through the wall of Room 10 showed that the walls were of solid brick construction, the bricks being 240mmx113mmx68mm with shallow frogs, in which was impressed the letter E. Finds from beneath the floors were collected and probably relate to the Pearce family.

The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out a programme of archaeological building recording at Buckingham and Felton Houses, 11 and 12 High Street, Portsmouth on behalf of their clients, Portsmouth City Council. The survey was carried out in response to a planning condition imposed on planning application A*39385. The redevelopment involved internal alterations to both houses in order to convert them to an hotel. The site lay in Local Area of Archaeological Importance 1. This includes the area of the old town of Portsmouth. The site also lies in the Portsmouth Old Town Conservation Area. Buckingham House is Listed Grade II*, whilst Felton House is Listed Grade II. The buildings were located on the south-east side of Portsmouth High Street, near its north-east end. They lay within the defences of the Old Town.

The evaluation trench was laid out SW-NE (fig 2). The central part of the trench could not be excavated due to the presence of live services. Modern surfaces and topsoil were removed by machine under archaeological supervision. Machining ceased when natural deposits or archaeologically significant deposits was revealed, and further investigation was by hand. The excavated spoil was examined for any archaeological finds and a metal detector was used. Enough of each archaeological feature was excavated in order to ascertain the extent, date, and nature.The watching brief was carried out under a separate Written Scheme of Investigation. All archaeological records were made using the Southampton City Council archaeological recording system. The colours of deposits were recorded using the Munsell Soil Color Chart and these are used in this report. One soil sample was taken and finds were recovered. The evaluation found burnt flint and flint flakes as residual prehistoric finds, but intensive use of the site probably began in the high medieval period when a humic soil began to build up. This was possibly activity in the backyards of houses to the south on the street frontage, and was represented by two high medieval features and three late medieval features. In the post-medieval period numerous rectangular post-holes and a pit were excavated. All the features could relate to gardening activity. The watching brief located a further medieval pit. Two more recent features were probably pits in which the elm boards for seasoning timber for coffins was soaked.

Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit carried out an archaeological evaluation at the rear of 12-14 Millbrook Road East, Southampton. There are proposals to build new Container Homes on the site, but there were local stories that an area of concrete on the boundary at the rear was the site of a WWII or Cold War shelter. If this were true it would be an undesignated heritage asset and might need further recording before the development could take place, and possibly compromise the digging of foundations. The plan was to dig three trenches as in Figure 6. In the event the work began with Trench 2 followed by Trench 3, after which the questions were answered and Trench 1 was not excavated. (The evaluation was of limited extent, aimed only at establishing whether an air raid shelter was present. Other parts of the site were not evaluated. Southampton HER) The natural was found to be brickearth. It was cut by a late 19th century garden wall which formed the boundary between the gardens of No 12 and No 14. In the garden of No 12 was a stone-flagged path. In the post-war period concrete was laid to cover the uneven path, and further concrete was laid in the garden of No 14, perhaps as the base of a shed. More recently a children’s play area was laid, and much of the concreted areas were covered in rubber chippings, giving the impression the whole arrangement was of one date. There was no evidence of underground structures.

Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit carried out an archaeological evaluation at 31 Henry Road, Shirley, Southampton on the 30th October 2019. Evidence of late Iron Age and early Roman occupation has been found to the northeast and northwest of the site. The evaluation trench was 12m long by 1.5m wide Sondages were dug at the northwest and southeast ends of the trench to further investigate the thickness of the natural layers. Natural gravel was found 1m below the surface overlain by natural brickearth. Above the natural was a soil layer dated to the 18-19th century, this was cut by a large shallow feature and a pit dated to the late 19th-early 20th century. No archaeologically significant finds or features were revealed. Based on the work undertaken it is unlikely that the development will cause damage to archaeologically significant remains. A single mid nineteenth century ointment bottle was retained for archive.

The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out an archaeological evaluation on land at Dolphin Field (a domestic house to the east of Roman Road, Twyford, Hampshire) in September 2017 to inform proposals for an extension to the existing building. The site lies to the north of the Twyford Roman villa, on the edge of a dry valley. The three trenches were 1.5m by 1m, 4m by 1m, and 4.5m by 1m, totalling 10sq m in total. All excavation was by hand. Deposits were removed in reverse stratigraphic order, with planning, recording and photography of each element. A typical sections of each trench was cleaned and recorded. The earliest deposits were Head and colluvium of natural origin, probably deposited at the end of the last Ice Age. Above these natural deposits were further layers of colluvium. These contained burnt flints and a sherd of probable Middle to Late Bronze Age pottery, so this colluvium probably relates to ploughing of the surrounding hillsides at that period. These deposits were overlain by a possible deliberately laid flint surface, itself overlain by layers rich in Roman building material. The thickest deposit was in Trench 1, with thinner spreads in Trenches 2 and 3 on the valley floor, suggesting the source of the building material was to the east of the site. The types and frequency of the building material suggests a Roman bathhouse, with flint rubble walls, heated rooms, rooms with tessellated floors and red-painted plastered walls, and a stone-tiled roof. Similar material has been found in the garden of the house to the north. The earlier excavations at the Twyford Roman villa have located a sizeable bathhouse (some 90m2) over 50m to the south of the present site, so this new evidence suggests that the villa had two bathhouses.

The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out an archaeological evaluation excavation at East Shore School, Eastern Road, Portsmouth on behalf of George Wimpey Southern Counties Ltd. Boreholes had shown that in the northern part of the site the old ground surface was generally between 1.3m and 2m below the present surface, but in the southern part of the site proposed groundworks were likely to extend into the old ground surface. The southern part was therefore evaluated. Three trenches were opened in the south-west part of the site covering a total of 60m2 - comprising a 2% sample of that part of the site. The evaluation uncovered a scatter of prehistoric evidence followed by evidence for the post-medieval and early modern use of the area as fields before the area was developed in the 20th century. Unstratified and residual finds included burnt flints, a flint flake, and a sherd of 16th or 17th century Normandy stoneware. Other ceramics comprised 18th to 20th century pottery, tobacco pipes, and building material. The low level of finds at the East Shore School evaluation suggests that further archaeological work will not be necessary.