Event/Activity EPM182 - Archaeological Evaluation Portsmouth City Museum and Record Office, Museum Road, Portsmouth

An archaeological evaluation was carried out by the Archaeology Officer for Portsmouth City Council in an area for a proposed new extension to the City Museum and Records Office site in December 2001. The site was situated to the east of the main City Museum building, and to the south of the Records Store. The work was undertaken at the same time as a geotechnical investigation. The site lay within an area of archaeological potential which had formerly been occupied by a late 19th-early 20th century military barracks complex, and the post-medieval Portsmouth town defences, comprising the East Bastion and its associated moats and earthworks. A total of two trenches were excavated using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless bucket. The soil was removed as far as the archaeological layers, which were subsequently dug by hand. Archaeological features were then cleaned, photographed and drawn. Trench 1 measured 57.1m in length by 1m wide. Due to a live electricity cable, a gap of 1m had to be left 38.2m from the western end of this trench. Trench 2 was a total of 33m in length by 1m wide, and had to be excavated in three sections due to a live electricity cable and a tree. The western section was 9.5m long, the mid-section 5.5m, and eastern section 18m. A layer of topsoil which lay across both trenches had been imported to the site when it was landscaped prior to the opening of the City Museum in 1972. Directly underneath the topsoil was a thin layer of tar macadam, which was seen intermittently across the trenches. This was possibly associated with the military use of the site. A layer of sandy clay with gravel and crushed brick inclusions also lay intermittently across the trenches and appeared to cover and surround brick features. This may have been related to the demolition of the barrack complex in the early 1970s, and in some places appeared to have been used as hardcore for the tarmac layer. The evaluation revealed that the lower levels of the former barrack buildings had been left in situ following demolition of the site in the 1960s and 1970s. A lack of evidence relating to the post-medieval town defences may suggest that the construction of the later barrack complex had destroyed the remains of the earlier defensive walls. However, it is also possible that the remains of the defences still survive below the barrack walls, at a greater depth than it was possible to excavate at the time of the evaluation. Accession No: 2001/1344