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Excavations at Winchester, 1969: Eighth interim report1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Summary

Five sites were excavated in 1969. At Castle Yard the pre-Roman and Roman defences were examined and a large salient discovered at the south-west corner of the Roman walled town. A Saxon street and its buildings lying within this salient were found buried below the castle earthworks of 1067, and the early development of the castle was investigated. At Lankhills sixty fourth-century graves were excavated, four producing evidence of an alien military element in the late Roman town. Further evidence of this alien element was found at the Cathedral Green, and together with earlier discoveries, suggests the presence of a Germanic garrison. The excavation of the Old Minster was completed by the examination of the east end of the seventh-century church, and by the discovery of a west-work of continental type consecrated in 980. At Lower Brook Street four houses and other structures of the mid twelfth to mid thirteenth century were excavated, one property being devoted entirely to cloth finishing with a rack-ground and dye-house. Three phases of St. Mary's Church were examined and the latest stage of St. Pancras' Church uncovered. At Wolvesey Palace the west hall can be dated to c. 1110. The lead-piped water-supply of the palace was investigated, its first stage belonging to the early twelfth century. Excavation continues.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1970

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References

page 278 note 1 For reports on the 1967 and 1968 seasons see Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 258–9Google Scholar; xlix (1969), 296–302.

page 278 note 2 In the area examined in 1963 under the name ‘Assize Courts North’: ibid, xliv (1964), 193–4, fig. 2.

page 279 note 1 Photograph in S. Ward-Evans Collection, Winchester City Museum.

page 279 note 2 Cunliffe, B., Winchester Excavations 1949–60, i (1964), pp. 16Google Scholar, 17, figs. 1 and 5 (Site 8); additional information from the files of the Winchester City Museum.

page 279 note 3 Recorded as Assize Courts North (ACN) 1970.

page 281 note 1 Cunliffe, op. cit., pp. 2–6, fig. 2.

page 281 note 2 Antiq. Journ. xlv (1965), 231–3Google Scholar, pl. LXVII; xlvi (1966), 310–12, pl. LIII; xlvii (1967), 254–9, fig. 4; xlviii (1968), 251–7, fig. 2.

page 281 note 3 The canted north-west angle of the Roman and medieval city defences has perhaps been influenced by the course of the Iron Age ditch (fig. 1). If so, this would imply that the latter extended at least as far as the north gate. It is also possible that the ‘earthwork’ recorded between Jewry Street and St. Peter's Street, during the widening of St. George's Street in 1956, and subsequently (Cunliffe, op. cit., pp. 21–3, 35, 37, 38), may have formed part of the same work, although three sherds of 'southern Atrebatic’ type from the body of the earthwork suggest, if their evidence can be accepted, a date later than would be feasible for the ditch.

page 281 note 4 Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 255Google Scholar and note 3; Perry, B. T., ‘Iron Age Enclosures and Settlements on the Hampshire Chalklands’, Arch. Journ. cxxvi (1969), 38–9Google Scholar.

page 281 note 5 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 298Google Scholar.

page 282 note 1 The front of the defences could not be reached since excavation was not possible on the north side of the Roman wall. Photographs and notes in the Ward-Evans Collection (Winchester City Museum) suggest that the north face of the medieval refacing (Wall II) followed the line of the outer face of the Roman wall. All measurements of the width of the Roman defences are therefore taken from this line.

page 283 note 1 Cf. the evidence for early cultivation at Oram's Arbour: Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 256Google Scholar.

page 283 note 2 Marling would only be needed where the immediate subsoil was clay-with-flints, or where there was an exceptional depth of topsoil. The clay-with-flints covering the chalk in the western half of the walled city does not extend more than 100 m. (330 feet) west of the defences and this supports the view that the material of the secondary bank was derived from cultivated areas close outside the wall.

page 283 note 3 Cf. the photograph in Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), pl. lixb.

page 284 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlv (1965), 235–8Google Scholar, pls. lxix, lxxi, lxxiia.

page 284 note 2 Ibid. 237–8; Cunliffe, B., ‘The Winchester City Wall’, Proc. Hants F. C. xxii, ii (1962), 5189Google Scholar.

page 285 note 1 This figure includes the area of the newly discovered south-western salient and thus replaces all previous figures for the area of the walled town. The area enclosed by the second-century earthen defences may have been rather different since the stone wall and the earlier earthwork seem to have followed different lines at the south-eastern corner of the town (Proc. Hants F. C. xxii, ii (1962), 80Google Scholar). Mr. F. G. Aldsworth of the Ordnance Survey kindly provided the new figure for the area of the walled city.

page 285 note 2 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 297–8Google Scholar.

page 285 note 3 For this date see ibid. xliv (1964), 217–19.

page 286 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlv (1965), 242Google Scholar, pls. LXXIIIb, LXXXII.

page 287 note 1 Wheeler, R. E. M., London and the Vikings (London Museum Catalogue, 1927), p. 40Google Scholar, fig. 18.

page 287 note 2 Biddle, Martin and Hill, David, ‘Late Saxon planned towns’, Antiq. Journ. li (1971)Google Scholar, forth-coming.

page 288 note 1 The Winton Domesday, Soc. of Antiquaries MS. 154, f. 5V (Domesday Book, iv (Record Commission, ed. Sir H. Ellis, 1816), p. 541b.)

page 288 note 2 See Biddle and Hill, op. cit. in note 2, p. 287.

page 289 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xliv (1964), 216Google Scholar with further references.

page 289 note 2 I am grateful to Mr. F. G. Aldsworth of the Ordnance Survey for his help with these calculations.

page 289 note 3 Ibid, xlix (1969), 298–302.

page 290 note 1 Pentlow, Essex; Waterperry, Oxon.; St. Mary in Tanner Street, Winchester.

page 290 note 2 Hadleigh, Essex; Bengeo, Herts; St. Nicholas Chilton Candover, Hants.

page 290 note 1 This ditch was recorded during the contractor's work just north-east of the round tower (Tower I).

page 290 note 2 The construction of the keep on top of an existing motte helps to explain the absence of an early curtain wall between the angle of Wall 1/25 and the south-east corner of the keep (Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 298Google Scholar). It seems clear that this gap was not filled until after the demolition of the keep and the recutting of the castle ditch, perhaps at the time of the building of the round tower (Tower I) in 1222.

page 290 note 3 This statement corrects the interpretation of the platform put forward in the last interim report: ibid. 297–8.

page 292 note 1 For reports on the 1967 and 1968 seasons see Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 257–8Google Scholar; xlix (1969), 302–3.

page 292 note 2 The excavation was encouraged throughout by the Winchester Excavations Committee who loaned equipment and provided some supplies. We have received much help and advice from the staff of the Winchester Research Unit, particularly from Mr. Martin Biddle and Mrs. Suzanne Keene. Many others contributed to the success and smooth running of the excavation, most notably Mr. D. V. Teale, headmaster of Lankhills School. Mr. J. L. Macdonald and Mr. Bryan Ward-Perkins both assisted on site for much of the season.

page 295 note 1 Hull, M. R., Roman Colchester (1958), 250–9Google Scholar; Wenham, L. P., The Romano-British Cemetery at Trentholme Drive, York (1968), pp. 46–7Google Scholar.

page 295 note 2 Hawkes, S. C. and Dunning, G. C., ‘soldiers and Settlers in Britain, Fourth to Fifth Century’, Med. Arch, v (1961), 50–7Google Scholar, figs. 17 and 18.

page 295 note 3 Ibid., pp. 21–3, fig. 6.

page 295 note 4 Ibid., pp. 28–33.

page 296 note 1 e.g. J. P. Bushe-Fox, Fourth Report on the Excavations … at Richborough (1949), p. 150, no. 263, cf. pl. lvi.

page 296 note 2 R. E. M., and Wheeler, T. V., Report on the Excavation … in Lydney Park (1932), p. 90Google Scholar, no. 132, cf. pl. xxviii.

page 296 note 3 Cf. V. I. Evison, The Fifth-Century Invasions South of the Thames (1965), figs, la, b; 6, no 7.

page 298 note 1 For reports on 1965–8 see Antiq. Journ. xlvi (1966), 313–19Google Scholar; xlvii (1967), 259–66; xlviii (1968), 259–68; xlix (1969), 302–12.

page 298 note 2 For plan see ibid, xlix (1969), fig. 3.

page 301 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), p. 305Google Scholar.

page 301 note 2 Ibid., fig. 3, ‘Furnace’.

page 302 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlvii (1967), 260–2Google Scholar; xlix (1969), 304–5.

page 302 note 2 Ibid, xlviii (1968), 263, 266–7.

page 303 note 1 For this lettering and for a diagram of Phases O—Z see ibid, xlix (1969), 305–8, fig. 2. For previous accounts of St. Mary's see ibid, xlvi (1966), 317; xlvii (1967), 262–3; xlviii (1968), 263–5.

page 303 note 2 Ibid, xlviii (1968), 263.

page 304 note 1 For a plan of Phase N, see Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), fig. 3, and cf. pp. 306–8.

page 305 note 1 Ibid, xlix (1969), 308–9.

page 305 note 2 Ibid (1967), 264–5, pl. XLIX.

page 305 note 3 Ibid. xlix (1969), 308–9.

page 306 note 1 See, for example, Martin Holmes, ’An Unrecorded Map of London’, Archaeologia, c (1966), 111, 113, pls. xlb, xlib.

page 307 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 310–12, pl. LXIIa; for a photograph of this phase when fully excavated, see this report, pl. XLVIa.

page 309 note 1 Ibid. 310–11.

page 309 note 2 Ibid. 312.

page 309 note 3 The only burial in St. Mary's, at the east end of the north aisle, must have taken place at the very end of the church's life, since the aisle was the last addition to the structure and cannot be dated before the end of the fifteenth century.

page 311 note 1 For interim reports on the excavations of 1962–8, see Antiq. Journ. xliv (1964), 202–11; xlv (1965), 249–58; xlvi (1966), 319–26; xlvii (1967), 266–72; xlviii (1968), 268–80; and xlix (1969), 312–23.

page 312 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 315.

page 312 note 2 I am grateful to Mr. Richard Reece for identifying these coins and all other Roman coins from the 1969 excavations.

page 312 note 3 Ibid, xliv (1964), 206; xlvi (1966), 320; xlviii 1968), 270.

page 312 note 4 Med. Arch, v (1961), 2134Google Scholar, 50–7, figs. 17 and 18.

page 313 note 1 e.g. Mainz, Greiffenklaustrasse, Grave 1: Werner, J., ‘Kriegergrauml;ber aus der ersten Hälfte des 5. Jahrhunderts zwischen Schelde und Weser’, Banner Jahrbücher clviii (1958), 395Google Scholar, Abb. 19.

page 313 note 2 e.g. Furfooz: Dasnoy, A., ‘La nécropole de Furfooz’, Annales de la Société archéologique de Namur 55 (1969–70)Google Scholar, 121–94; Tournai, Grave 2: Werner, op. cit., 375–6, Abb. 2.

page 313 note 3 Roes, A., Bone and Antler Objects from the Frisian Terp-mounds (Haarlem, 1963), pp. 1013Google Scholar, fig. 3, pls. vi-xiii.

page 313 note 4 Castle Acre (Norwich Castle Mus., 131. 11), Caistor-by-Norwich (Grave E 13, a simpler type of comb) and Pensthorpe (N.C.M., 59. 38), Norfolk (ex inf. Dr. J. N. L. Myres, P.S.A. and Miss Barbara Green); Girton, Cambridge (Hollingworth, E. J. and O'Reilly, M. M., The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Girton College, Cambridge (1925)Google Scholar, pl. v, nos. 2 and 4); Eye, Suffolk (British Museum; Guide to the Anglo-Saxon … Antiquities (1923), pp. 22, 82, fig. 12); Lackford, Suffolk Lethbridge, T. C., A Cemetery at Lackford, Suffolk (Cambridge Antiquarian Soc., 4o publications, newser., vi (1915), pp. 28, 55, 56)Google Scholar; Malton, Yorks. Brown, G. Baldwin, The Arts in Early England, iv (1915), 391Google Scholar, pl. LXXXV, 1).

page 313 note 5 Richborough (J. P. Bushe-Fox, Richborough, ii (1928), p. 47, pi. xxi, no. 43; ibid, iii (1932), p. 81, pl XII, i, no. 35; ibid, iv (1949), pp. 148, 150,151, pls. LIV, no. 226; LVI, nos. 265 and 270); Colchester (M. R. Hull, Roman Colchester (1958), p. 79, fig. 35); Eccles, Kent (ex inf. A. P. Detsicas, F.S.A.).

page 312 note 6 Med. Arch, v (1961), 170Google Scholar.

page 313 note 7 Myres, J. N. L., Anglo-Saxon Pottery and the Settlement of England (1969), Ch. v, pp. 6283Google Scholar.

page 313 note 8 There are several varieties of form, construction, and decoration with corresponding(?) variations in date and provenance: the writer is compiling a corpus of these combs and would be glad to hear of any unpublished examples.

page 314 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 270–2Google Scholar, fig. 5.

page 315 note 1 Ibid, xliv (1964), 207–8, pl. lii.

page 316 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 317–20Google Scholar, fig. 5.

page 316 note 2 Quirk, R. N., ‘Winchester Cathedral in the Tenth Century’, Arch. Journ. cxiv (1957), 3841Google Scholar.

page 317 note 1 Ibid., pp. 48–50.

page 317 note 2 Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 278Google Scholar, pl. lxiii.

page 318 note 1 Quirk, op. cit., p. 65.

page 318 note 2 See note 2, p. 317, above.

page 320 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 320–1Google Scholar pl. lxvb. The interpretation in the present report differs in the that this site is now clearly indicated as the location of See the original grave, as well as that of the subsequent shrine.

page 320 note 2 Quirk, op. cit., p. 41.

page 320 note 3 No grave, robbed or intact, was found directly below this impression, but from the account of the translation it is clear that the original burial and all the upper part of the tomb structure were removed, See Quirk, op. cit.

page 320 note 4 Quirk, op. cit., pp. 41–3, 56–9: the words used are camera, vestibulum, and balco (-nem).

page 320 note 5 Quirk, op. cit., p. 59.

page 320 note 6 Quirk, op. cit., pp. 48–56.

page 321 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 317.

page 321 note 2 Ibid, xliv (1964), 206–7.

page 322 note 1 For previous interim reports, see Antiq. Journ. xliv (1964), 212–14Google Scholar; xlv (1965), 258–60; xlvi (1966), 326–8; xlvii (1967), 272–6; xlviii (1968), 280–4; and xlix (1969), 323–6. See also Martin Biddle, ‘Wolvesey: the domus quasi palatium of Henry de Blois in Winchester’, Château Gaillard, iii (ed. A. J. Taylor, 1969), pp. 28–36. The plan of the palace based on the results of excavation in 1963–8, published in the last interim report (Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), fig. 7, opp. p. 321), has not been sufficiently augmented to justify its publication again here. It will be republished in the next interim when the results of excavation in the cloister and east hall will be available.

page 322 note 2 The existence of a large walnut tree growing in Room 43 has restricted the amount of excavation possible in this area.

page 323 note 1 Toy, S., ‘Winchester House, Southward’, Surrey Arch. Coll. xlix (1944–5), 7581Google Scholar.

page 324 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 324–5Google Scholar.

page 324 note 2 Ibid. 324–5, pls. LXVIII, LXIXa.

page 324 note 3 Water was brought to the cathedral monastery by a pipe that began on the Itchen a little above Abbots Worthy, north of the city: Atkinson, T. D., ‘Winchester Cathedral Close’, Proc. Hants F. C. xv, i (1941), 1516Google Scholar.

page 325 note 1 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 324–5Google Scholar, pls. LXVIII, LXIXb.

page 324 note 2 Château Gaillard, iii, p. 30.