Event/Activity EPM149 - Somers Road/Morpeth Road Fratton, May 1983

Portsmouth Museum Service excavated three trial trenches (numbered 9-11) in an area formerly occupied by gardens belonging to terraced housing in Froddington Road and Carlisle Road in 1983. The excavation report referes to the site as having been situated between Somers Road and Morpth Road, which boarder on its west and east side. The excavation revealed no archaeological finds or features. Approximately 30cms of plough soil was present below around 30cms of shallow modern build-up in trench 9. A large natural depression, 3m deep, in the gravel in trench 10 had been filled with brick-earth material. The work was part of a series of excavations carried out in Fratton in May 1983, in an area bounded by Victoria Road North and Somers Road on the east and west side, and the railway line and Abingdon Road to the north and south. The aims of the excavations were to locate and examine evidence of earlier occupation, and observe the nature and distribution of superficial deposits, such as plough soil and brick-earth. The excavations were undertaken prior to the construction of a new north-south road through Fratton. See records EMP147-152. Additional excavations were carried out in 1982, and July and October 1983.