Pages tagged with "Hampshire"

Testwood Lakes

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:58:42 +0000

Fascinating evidence for the early use of rivers, including the oldest bridge found in England, emerged during the excavation of a reservoir and two lakes in Hampshire.

New! An animation of the Bronze Age bridge 3D visualisation is now online.

In 1996 Southern Water began to excavate at Testwood in Hampshire, to develop a reservoir to store water for 200,000 people in and around Southampton.

As with all major construction schemes, archaeologists were called in to see if there were any important remains from the past. While carrying out what they call a watching brief, staff from Wessex Archaeology came across fascinating evidence of early society, including part of the earliest bridge ever definitely identified in England, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c1,500BC.

Using text and images, these pages tell us about the excavation, what was found and the people who lived during the Bronze Age.

Southampton Friends Provident St Marys Stadium

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:32:23 +0000

The gold pendant found at St MarysAn exceptionally rich Anglo-Saxon cemetery was found by our archaeologists at the site of Southampton Football Club’s new Friends Provident St Mary’s Stadium.

Two years ago Wessex Archaeology carried out excavations at the site of the stadium and found graves furnished with weapons, gold and fine jewellery.

The gold brooch during excavation The finds date back to the late 7th century and go back to the founding of Hamwic, the Anglo-Saxon port and market that gave its name to Hampshire.

Items from about 40 graves included two glass and amber necklaces with gold pendants as centrepieces. One was decorated with the figure of a snake chasing its tail and had semi-precious stones at its centre. Another necklace contained a silver signet ring dating back to Roman times.

Excavation in progressThe finds were important as well as beautiful: they push the date of the Hamwic’s beginning back from the 8th century into the 7th, the same time as the revival of other towns in southern England such as London and Ipswich. They help overturn an idea that the 7th and 8th centuries were an economic “dark age” in England with a collapse in long-term trade.

The excavations also revealed numerous domestic rubbish pits, with pottery and animal bone. One pit contained a knot of gold thread and another a copper spoon.

The excavation took place only under the stands of the new stadium, leaving the rest of the cemetery under what is now the football pitch undisturbed. This led Roland Smith, Wessex Archaeology’s Resources Director, to say: “It is an intriguing thought to imagine Southampton’s Premiership League footballers dancing over all this surviving Anglo-Saxon archaeology.”

Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:13:58 +0000

Not all of Wessex Archaeology’s projects involve digging through solid ground. One of our most unusual projects was at Langstone Harbour near Portsmouth, where our archaeologists worked for seven years in deep mud and treacherous tides.

The team found remains which dated back to the 8,500BC at the Harbour – described by one archaeologist as “a mysterious backwater – at high tide a great, almost land-locked lagoon of salt water, at low tide an expanse of grey mud.”

The work was important as the small islands within Langstone Harbour are eroding rapidly and the remains had to be recorded and interpreted before the sea washed them away forever. The unusual conditions made things easier as well as harder: many flints and pieces of pottery were found on the foreshore as erosion of the islands by the sea exposed them.

Their work completely rewrote the history of the area. They showed for the first time that Langstone was not a harbour at all in prehistoric times, but an area of open grassland and woods where people came to collect flint for making into tools, to hunt animals and to graze sheep and cattle. By the Iron Age (700BC) the sea began gradually seeping in and this allowed people to make salt and farm oysters. Their finds included Neolithic waterlogged trees dating to 3,000BC, pieces of Bronze Age pottery (c1,200BC) and a medieval harpoon (c AD 1300).

By Saxon times (5th century AD) the harbour was fully formed and boats were used to cross it. During recent survey work by the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology a Saxon boat was found in the muds and our team – Dr Mike Allen and Dr Julie Gardiner – was filmed for the Past Finders TV Programme examining it and discussing the archaeology of the area.

Langstone was a dangerous place to work, with fast running tides that sneak in from behind the small islands in the harbour and cut off the unwary from shore. Strict safety measures had to be observed at all times by our team, who carried ropes and flares. Their caution paid off as no one came to any harm.

Our staff were part of a team that included maritime archaeologists from Southampton University and the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, and geographers from Portsmouth University. The team, which also included local fisherman Arthur Mack, carried out underwater surveys and searches as well land excavation.

Those interested in learning more about this excavation should look at :

Our Changing Landscape; an intertidal survey of Langstone Harbour,Hampshire

by Allen.M.J. and Gardiner, J. 2000.

York, Council for British Archaeology (CBA) Research Report 124 - £32 from

Council for British Archaeology

Bowes Morrell House

111 Walmgate

YORK

YO19WA

Tel (01904) 671417

The Dolphin Hotel, Romsey

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:53:39 +0000

The Dolphin Hotel, RomseyIn the spring of 2002 our archaeologists Bob Davis and Gary Whale spent a week excavating and surveying at the Dolphin Hotel in Romsey, a disused 200-year-old Grade II listed pub. This is being converted into a restaurant and store by its new owners, Smith Bradbeers department store, and a record of the building was needed before work began.

Although the stucco-fronted building is described as being built in the early 19th century, Bob found timber framing inside that was as early as the 15th century. Stables at the back of the hotel dated to the 18th century.

The building survey was able to trace how the Regency façade was created in 1828 and to point out the large arched brick cellars under the hotel which probably date to the 17th century.

The Dolphin’s car park, which will be built on, was also excavated, with three trenches dug using a machine. Bob and Gary found pieces of pottery from Roman and Medieval times and also one piece from even earlier – Bronze or Iron Age (between about two and four thousand years old). Other finds included parts of a medieval wine bottle.

Bob Davies and Past Finders producer Mike Fuller Recording of timbers in the loft of the Dolphin Hotel

A Late Saxon Pottery Kiln at Michelmersh, Hampshire

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:42:50 +0000

Michelmersh Pottery The quiet little village of Michelmersh, near Romsey in Hampshire has an intriguing hidden history. No visible clues remain to show that it once produced pottery which was used as far afield as Wiltshire and West Sussex. Two pottery kilns have been found so far, one recently by Wessex Archaeology. It is likely that there were others. Experts believe that pots were produced here for two or even three hundred years, and their distinctive style deserves a special name - ‘Michelmersh Ware’.

The pottery was made on a wheel, which is unusual for this period. The jars and bowls were clearly for everyday use, but the elaborately decorated pitchers or jugs are a bit of an enigma. They hold as much as 5 litres but their small handles and narrow spouts make them unsuitable for regular use.

The kiln found by Wessex Archaeology was complete with the pots from its last firing. Archaeomagnetic dating tells us that this firing was done in the late 10th or early 11th century, but we will probably never know why the kiln and its contents were abandoned.

Michelmersh PitcherMichelmersh pots

19-20 Jewry Street Winchester

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:43:43 +0000

An aerial view of the Jewry Street siteAn excavation is being carried out in Jewry Street, Winchester, ahead of development on the site by Mr M Bakhaty. The site is in the north-west corner of the historic core of Winchester. This area of the town is known to have been occupied throughout Winchester’s post-medieval, medieval and Roman past.

For more information about the archaeology and history of Winchester, visit the Winchester Museums Service website.

Listen to the Podcast "Excavations in Winchester"