Archaeological Excavations on Four Sites in Winchester, Hampshire (Paperback)

This volume brings together the results of archaeological excavations on four small sites in the historic city of Winchester, in Hampshire: two in the historic core of the medieval town, two just on its outskirts.

The periods represented vary from site to site. On Northbrook Avenue in the eastern suburb of St Giles, a Neolithic pit, undated but possibly Saxon burials, and a post-medieval ditch form an eclectic mix. Hazelnut shell from the Neolithic pit provided a radiocarbon date at the beginning of the 3rd millennium cal. BC. A case is made for the ditch (which is not intrinsically well dated) forming part of a Civil War earthwork, as it corresponds with an earthwork mapped as apparently already ancient in 1791.

At Little Minster Street in the heart of the medieval town, early Roman occupation is unexpectedly joined by another Neolithic pit, all sealed by a succession of later Roman and medieval deposits.

At Hyde Abbey Road on the northern edge of the medieval town, a long sequence of land-use begins in the late Saxon period and covers the medieval and early post-medieval periods, attesting to considerable efforts at drainage on land that was probably farmed from the Abbey and remained susceptible to flooding.

Finally at Southgate Street, there is evidence for an early Roman west-east street surface, medieval buildings and further street surfaces.