Event/Activity EPM152 - Cumberland Road, Fratton May 1983

Portsmouth Museum Service excavated three trial trenches (numbered 14-16) in an area formerly occupied by terraced housing and gardens on the north side of Cumberland Road in 1983. The top soil was only 15cms deep at its deepest point in trenches 14 and 15. Trench 16 was extended by 3ms in width to reveal a large late-19th/early 20th century brick lined cesspit/soakaway. 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.