Event/Activity EPM185 - Watching Brief at the Lock Keepers Cottage, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth

An archaeological watching brief was carried out by Gifford Archaeology at the site of the Lock Keepers Cottage, Gunwharf Quays, between 30th June and 10th July 2003. The watching brief monitored groundworks for the construction of a new building on the north side of the cottage. These works comprised level reduction to the south of the cottage, in order to expose the upper part of the building foundation, the excavation of foundation trenches for the new building, and the excavation of a trench around the north and east sides of the structure to damp proof the walls. The need for archaeological monitoring had been identified in a desk-based assessment and initial site investigation undertaken by The Conservation Practice in 1997 (Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, An Archaeological Evaluation, Part 1: Desk Top Study, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth An Archaeological Evaluation, Part 2: Site Investigation and Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth An Archaeological Evaluation, Part 3: Methodology Statement). The assessment indicated the potential for surviving archaeological remains within several areas of the Gunwharf development. Two structures of archaeological interest were identified as lying within the area of the watching brief, the Lock Keepers Cottage and the remains of the New Gunwharf Quay Wall. The lower part of the wall and upper part of the wall footing to the Lock Keepers Cottage were exposed during the level reduction to the south of the building. Trenches excavated for the new building to the north of the cottage revealed no archaeological features or deposits of any interest. The southern trenches for the new building revealed additional information about the construction and history of the cottage, indicating that its orientation had been changed from north-south to east-west at some point between 1860 and 1900. The earliest feature revealed during the watching brief was a large square stone foundation. It was not possible to identify the function this foundation performed, but it may possibly represent a crane base or support for a cofferdam used in the construction of the New Gunwharf in the 1790s. The upper layers of archaeology in the trenches had been disturbed by modern activity, mainly associated with a concrete foundation slab for a small building to the north of the cottage that was constructed in 1922. Accession No: 2003/2022