Monument record MDO19352 - Keith Motors, Christchurch (site X13); late Saxon town defences

Excavations in a tenement strip at the rear of Keith Motors, High Street, Christchurch, during 1976 (site X13), revealed evidence for the Saxon town defences. This comprised sandy clay layers [8-16] sealed below the rubble layers associated with the demolished town wall. They sometimes contained chalk or mortar lenses and were deposited on an alluvial deposit of grey sand. These layers were undated but probably of Saxon or early medieval date. They are interpreted as the bank of the late Saxon town defences. No evidence for a ditch was revealed and probably lay outside the excavated area.

D. Markell directed excavations in a tenement strip at the rear of Keith Motors, High Street, Christchurch, during 1976 (site X13). The results were subsequently published as a short note in DNHAS monograph 5 (1). The excavations revealed evidence for the Saxon town defences. This comprised sandy clay layers [8-16] sealed below the rubble layers associated with the demolished town wall. They sometimes contained chalk or mortar lenses and were deposited on an alluvial deposit of grey sand. This alluvium was at least 1.0m deep and fragments of bone occurred in the uppermost 0.2m. These layers beneath the mortar spread were undated but probably of Saxon or early medieval date. They are interpreted as the bank of the late Saxon town defences. No evidence for a ditch was revealed and probably lay outside the excavated area.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2011 11:55AM