Event/Activity EPM246 - Southsea Castle Glacis

An excavation was carried out by Portsmouth Museum Service during the siting of a transformer in the glacis at Southsea Castle in 1967. There does not appear to be a report for the work. Articles which appear in the Portsmouth Evening News on the 29th and 30th June 1967 stated the finds (clay pipes and 17th-19th century pottery) had been made 'during the past few days' and that the excavations were 'to enable the foundations of a transformer to be laid'. The excavation was said to have shown 'a section through the earthwork, showing first the glacis…on which the pottery and pipes were found'. According to the report the glacis had been sealed when the counterscarp gallery was added in 1814 and again 'in the 1850s when the adjacent ramparts were added'. The later may be a reference to the west battery which was built during the 1860s. The finds were thought to have been domestic rubbish from the castle. Finds from the excavation are held by Portsmouth Museum under the accession number 1967/39.