Monument record MDO8733 - Sainsbury's car park, Christchurch (site W6); medieval town defences

Excavation in Sainsbury’s car park, Christchurch, during 1981 (site W6), revealed evidence for the medieval town defences. This comprised a complex of features some 5m to the north of Saxon defensive ditch [14]. Some of these can be equated to ditches excavated at site X2 but are better understood here because of better stratigraphical information. At least three of the features are interpreted as medieval ditches dating from the 12th-13th centuries and related to the town defences. However, some a re-cuts of earlier ditches and there need not have been more than one ditch open at any one time.

Wessex Archaeological Committee conducted an excavation in Sainsbury’s car park, Christchurch, during 1981(site W6) in order to investigate the late Saxon and medieval town defences. The results were subsequently published in PDNHAS volume 105 (1). The excavation revealed evidence for the medieval town defences. This comprised a complex of features some 5m to the north of Saxon defensive ditch [14]. Some of these can be equated to ditches excavated at site X2 but are better understood here because of better stratigraphical information. At least three of the features are interpreted as medieval ditches dating from the 12th-13th centuries and related to the town defences. However, some a re-cuts of earlier ditches and there need not have been more than one ditch open at any one time. To summarise, there appear to have been at least three phases of medieval ditches, more likely five and possibly (but doubtfully) as many as six. All appear to have been filled in by the late 12th-13th century. The earliest feature of this complex [120] is likely to be a pit, possibly for some kind of post revetment behind the ditches. In fact not all of the features interpreted here as ditches need necessarily to be ditches, the width of the trench being too narrow to be positive. A final outer ditch postulated at site X2 is shown at this site to have been a large gravel quarry pit.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2011 11:42AM