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Excavations at Gloucester, 1971–1973: Second Interim Report1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Summary

The work of 1971–3 has produced a variety of important results. The Roman defences and defended area sequences set out in the first report have been confirmed with modifications of detail. New evidence has been found for the nature and extent of the Roman city outside the defended area: there are now the first hints of Roman planning in the St. Catherine Street—Hare Lane area and in Lower Northgate Street there was at least one monumental building and a street-side colonnade. Sub-Roman occupation has been recorded at 13–17 Berkeley Street. New evidence has been obtained for the possible first phase of Gloucester castle and the development of the medieval defences. The excavated evidence for the medieval occupation at 13–17 Berkeley Street has been combined with, and partly reinterpreted in the light of documentary evidence. At 82–4 Northgate Street the standing remains of a sixteenth-century and later building were recorded and its site excavated and related to documentary evidence. In the light of new discoveries, accounts are also given of St. Bartholemew's Hospital, the river Severn, and its two main medieval bridges within the city bounds.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1974

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References

page 1 note 2 These figures include the Field Archaeologist's salary. In all, just under £24,000 has been spent in the five years covered by the two interim reports, This includes the Kingsholm excavation, not reported here.

page 9 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 2835Google Scholar.

page 9 note 2 The post-Roman phases of the western defences sequence are, however, altered by discoveries at 13–17 Berkeley Street (p. 13 below).

page 9 note 3 Already published in Britannia, iii (1972), 353Google Scholar, no. 5.

page 10 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 27Google Scholar, fig. 3.

page 11 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 35Google Scholar.

page 11 note 2 JRS lii (1962), 180Google Scholar.

page 11 note 3 TBGAS liii (1931), 275–9Google Scholar.

page 12 note 1 St. Bartholemew's Lease Book for 1773–91 (catalogue no. 1419/1538), fo. 403.

page 12 note 2 For example at 13–17 Berkeley Street, p. 23 below.

page 12 note 3 St. Peter's Abbey Deeds (MS. volumes in Cathedral Library) v, 4, 5, 7: loose deed 5; duplicates of these deeds together with one other in Abbey Register B, pp. 293–4, nos. 677–82.

page 12 note 4 Hart, W. H. (ed.), Historia el Cartulariunt Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae (1863), i, 59Google Scholar.

page 12 note 5 Round, J. H. (ed.), Ancient Charters prior to 1200 (1888), no. 3Google Scholar.

page 12 note 6 Further evidence on the early development of Gloucester castle and the reasons for interpreting its first phase as a motte-and-bailey will be set out in an extended account now being prepared.

page 13 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 35–7Google Scholar.

page 13 note 2 Hart, op. cit. i, 59.

page 13 note 3 Ibid., 81. I am indebted to Mr. J. F. Rhodes for his help in discussing this problem.

page 13 note 4 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 67–8Google Scholar. Although there is no longer evidence for a western intervallum road, one could have existed before the rampart was levelled. The westward continuation of Cross Keys Lane now appears to have extended only slightly west of Bull Lane if at all (below, p. 26).

page 14 note 1 The line of this wall shown in Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 26Google Scholar, fig. 2 and the Ordnance Survey maps is incorrect. Speed's plan (1610) shows the more easterly line as discovered.

page 14 note 2 Hart, op. cit. i, 13.

page 14 note 3 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 66Google Scholar.

page 14 note 4 TBGAS x (1885–6), 78Google Scholar.

page 14 note 5 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 33–4Google Scholar.

page 14 note 6 Ibid, and below, p. 28.

page 14 note 7 TBGAS lvi (1934), 65Google Scholar ff.

page 14 note 8 Archaeol. Journ. lxxviii (1921), 268 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 15 note 1 p. 13.

page 15 note 2 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 67–8Google Scholar.

page 15 note 3 See below, pp. 41 ff. for a detailed account of the river, bridges, and St. Bartholemew's Hospital.

page 15 note 4 See below, p. 51.

page 15 note 5 Turner, Hilary, Town Defences in England and Wales (1971), p. 231Google Scholar (Appendix B).

page 15 note 6 Stevenson, W. H. (ed.), Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (1893)Google Scholar, no. 492.

page 15 note 7 See below, p. 17.

page 15 note 8 St. Peter's Abbey Register B, nos. 580, 603.

page 15 note 9 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 845.

page 15 note 10 See below, p. 17.

page 17 note 1 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 286. The deed is copied in a fifteenth-century hand.

page 17 note 2 Ibid., 514; St. Peter's Abbey Register B, nos. 574, 578.

page 17 note 3 For example Stevenson, op. cit., nos. 223, 280.

page 17 note 4 St. Peter's Abbey Register B, no. 575.

page 17 note 5 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 38Google Scholar.

page 18 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972)Google Scholar, fig. 9.

page 23 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 3943Google Scholar.

page 23 note 2 Ibid. 42.

page 24 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 43Google Scholar.

page 24 note 2 Ibid. 43–50.

page 24 note 3 City and St. Bartholemew's Hospital Lease Books listed in Stevenson, op. cit., nos. 1465–19; Dean and Chapter Registers loose deeds and estate surveys are listed in Kirby, I. M., Records of the Diocese of Gloucester, ii (1967), 39129Google Scholar.

page 24 note 4 Kirby, op. cit. 1–22.

page 24 note 5 Stevenson, op. cit. Supplement to this calendar prepared by the staff of Gloucester City Library, so far unpublished.

page 24 note 6 P.R.O. Chancery Masters' Exhibits: C115. A 1–6, 9, 11–14.

page 24 note 7 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 46–8Google Scholar, figs. 12, 14, referred to passim in the following account.

page 24 note 8 St. Peter's Abbey Deeds, vii, 11 and 20.

page 24 note 9 St. Peter's Abbey Register B, no. 1006/1020.

page 26 note 1 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 653.

page 26 note 2 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 44Google Scholar.

page 26 note 3 Cole, Robert, Rental of all the Houses In Gloucester, 1455 (ed. Stevenson, W. H., 1890), 20Google Scholar.

page 26 note 4 Supplement to Corporation Records (op. cit.), no. 1936.

page 26 note 5 Measurements for Plot XXIV–XXV are known from 1636 onwards: Oliver's Survey, fo. 35.

page 26 note 6 Antiq. Journ. xliv (1964), 197–9Google Scholar, xlv, 246–8.

page 27 note 1 These were the numbers of the buildings demolished before redevelopment. The new buildings are numbered 20–36. The new Woolworths (on the site of the old no. 10) is numbered 10–18.

page 27 note 2 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 50–1Google Scholar.

page 27 note 3 JRS lvii (1967), 194–5Google Scholar; report forthcoming in TBGAS.

page 28 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 3942Google Scholar revised above, pp. 17–18.

page 28 note 2 JRS 1 (1960), 230Google Scholar.

page 28 note 3 TBGAS xci (1972), 18 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 29 note 1 Antiq. Journ. lii (1972), 63–5Google Scholar.

page 30 note 1 For an account of the post-medieval building at 82–4 Northgate Street see pp. 34 ff. below.

page 32 note 1 John Clarke, following the sewerage excavations of 1854, found that the ground was boggy at a low level near here and inferred that the Twyver originally crossed the street at this point: Gloucester Journal, 26 August 1854.

page 33 note 1 Fig. 11 shows the dimensions of the foundations.

page 37 note 1 Arch. Journ. cxv (1958), 124–6Google Scholar.

page 37 note 2 Smart's City of Gloucester and District Directory (1920), p. ii.

page 37 note 3 Rental 1455 (op. cit.), 108.

page 38 note 1 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 1459. The Red Lion Inn may have existed before 1712 but for earlier years only the licencses' names are given.

page 41 note 1 St. Peter's Abbey Deeds, iv, 5; viii, 17.

page 43 note 1 Cal. Inq. Misc. iii, no. 219, p. 80Google Scholar.

page 43 note 2 W. H. Hart, op. cit. i, 322; ii, 262, for St. Nicholas' connection with the bridge. For the grant of the church see reference in preceding note.

page 43 note 3 Rental 1455 (op. cit.), 70.

page 43 note 4 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 32 Henry VI, p. 289.

page 43 note 5 I am indebted to Mr. J. F. Rhodes for a summary on which this account is based.

page 43 note 6 Stevenson, op. cit., 214.

page 45 note 1 Cal. Inq. ad quod damnum, 49 Henry III, September; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1258–66, 450.

page 45 note 2 L. Toulmin Smith (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland (1908), part v, 59 (fo. 70b).

page 45 note 3 An intermediate level of large stones with burning and occupation debris on them was recorded at a level of 9–45 m. at the extreme west end of the infirmary hall. This is interpreted as a feature in this part of the building rather than a general floor level.

page 45 note 4 Stevenson, Corporation Records (op. cit.), no. 1324.

page 46 note 1 Stevenson, Corporation Records (op. cit.), no. 1322.

page 46 note 2 Ibid. no. 1334.

page 46 note 3 For the most recent account of the river and its bridges before this see Proc. Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, xxxiv (1965), 206–15Google Scholar.

page 46 note 4 Toulmin Smith, op.cit., pt. V., pt.v, 57–8 (fo. 70a–b).

page 46 note 5 Survey of the Liberties of Gloucester: Hart, op. cit. iii, 257.

page 46 note 6 The original report of this discovery, in the Gloucester Journal of 8th August 1846 refers to ‘what was evidently an old quay wall, consisting of large stones three or four feet square and rather more than a foot thick, laid on piles. This old quay wall runs parallel with the present quay but no less than 120 feet distant from it … (it) is no less than eighteen feet below the surface of the ground …’ Other accounts of the discovery appear to derive from this, with varying degrees of accuracy.

page 48 note 1 Plan and section in Gloucester City Museum.

page 48 note 2 The nearest finds are: mosaic in St. Mary de Lode Church at c. 9–15 m. A.O.D.; building debris at St. Oswald's Priory at c. 9–15 m. and at 14–24 St. Mary's Street at 8–6 m.; mosaic at Co-operative Society Creamery, Upper Quay Street at c. 9–2 and Roman building levels in Quay Street near its eastern end between c. 8–2 and 9 m. and at the junction with Lower Quay Street between c. 6–2 and 7–4 m. Mr. Alan Hunter kindly supplied the last two levels from his site records, A summary of his Lower Quay Street discovery is given in Fullbrook-Leggatt, Roman Gloucester, p. 57.

page 49 note 1 Toulmin Smith, op. cit., pt. v, 57–8 (fo. 70a– b).

page 49 note 2 See above, p. 41.

page 49 note 3 For example St. Peter's Abbey Deeds, iv, 1 pre 1205).

page 49 note 4 St. Peter's Abbey Deeds, iv, 3.

page 49 note 5 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 339.

page 49 note 6 Ibid., no. 705

page 49 note 7 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 263; Rental 1455 (op.cit.) 58.

page 49 note 8 Toulmin Smith, op.cit., pt.v, 57–8 (fo. 70a–b).

page 50 note 1 Speed (1610) shows these arches but also three cutwaters. His most easterly cutwater should probably be separated from the West Gate tower by an extra arch. All other illustrations consulted show four arches. These are: a wall painting in the Fleece Hotel (dated 1650); Kip's Prospect (1712); copies of several late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century engravings in the City Library Gloucester-shire Collection (GL 5; 35.5); the original pen and wash sketches by Lens (early eighteenth century) and Farrington (late eighteenth century) in the City and Folk Museum collections; and a late eighteenth-century pen and wash plan and elevation of Westgate Bridge and Over Causeway in the Cathedral Library (Kirby, op. cit. 31, no. 155). Hall and Pinnell's map (1780) shows three cut-waters.

page 50 note 2 See below, p. 51.

page 50 note 3 See above, p. 41, for the date.

page 50 note 4 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 17.

page 50 note 5 Toulmin Smith, op. cit., pt. v, 58 (fo. 70b). The gate was ‘new builded’ in his time (see below, p. 51) and the arch would have been exposed during construction.

page 50 note 6 Stevenson, op. cit., no. 17; Rental 1455 (op. cit.), 70.

page 50 note 7 Gloucester Council Book (Stevenson, op. cit., no. 1382): Minutes for meeting 7th June 1694.

page 50 note 8 The elevations and plans of the early nineteenth-century and 1941 bridges are copied from drawings kept by the City Planning Dept.; those of the 1973 bridge from the South Western Road Construction Unit's drawings.

page 51 note 1 Stevenson, op. cit., nos. 447, 542.

page 51 note 2 See Robert of Gloucester's account of Sir John Giffard and Sir John Balun's entry into Gloucester during the Barons' War: W. A. Wright (ed.), The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (Rolls Series 1887), fo. 157V.

page 51 note 3 In Stowe's transcript of Leland the gate is called ‘new builded’. Hearne, T., The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary (1769), vol. viii, part 2, P. 35 (fo. 76a)Google Scholar.

page 51 note 4 Toulmin Smith, op. cit., pt. v, 59 (fo. 70b).

page 51 note 5 Its course is shown in Isaac Taylor's Map of the County of Gloucester (1777) but appears to be confused with Sandhurst Lane in the area of Longford Ham. In his History of Gloucester (1811), 123–4, T. Rudge suggests its parting from the more westerly channel was at Longford Ham.