Event/Activity EPM153 - Watching brief at Land to rear of The Lanyard (Former Baptist Church) London Road/Heathfield Road, North End Portsmouth, Hampshire

A watching brief was carried out by Wessex Archaeology on land to the rear of The Lanyard (Former Baptist Church) London Road/Heathfield Road, North End in 2010. The excavation of groundwork's for new residential accommodation with associated refuse/cycle storage and communal area were observed. The ground works (primary foundation trenches) were excavated by a mechanical digger using a 0.60m and 0.90m bucket, to a maximum depth of 1.2m below natural ground level. The stratigraphy of the site generally consisted of approximately 0.50m of demolition rubble and mixed topsoil, which overlay 0.30-0.40m of natural dark grey silty subsoil, with brick-earth beneath. Where modern service trenches had cut the brick-earth at two locations across the site it was possible to see the underlying plateau gravel, which lay between 0.90-1.20m below the modern ground surface. Although the site falls within an area of archaeological potential identified as being of principal importance for medieval and post-medieval archaeology, no medieval features or finds were revealed. The only features observed during the watching brief were foundation trenches, and two pits. Only one of these features, a pit, could be dated. Accession number: 2014/285