Event/Activity EPM82 - An archaeological watching brief at John Pound Centre, St James Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire

Watching brief carried out during development work for a new GP surgery and clinic as part of the John Pound Centre. The stratergy planned for the work had to be adapted due to the exceptional depth of the trenches and the dangerous condition of the majority of the trench sides. This meant that trenches were excavated in short sections, and filled in with concrete immediately in order to prevent the sides from collapsing. Recording took place from the sides of the trenches, and soils recovered from over 1m examined on the spoil heap. In exceptional circumstances, soils were examined in the machine bucket, which lead to the possibility of the contamination of individual contexts. Sampling took place on the basis that the disturbed areas were unlikely to yield any additional informtion other than the recording of the initial sample. Observations revealed brick foundations, most of which belonged to buildings marked on Ordnance Survey maps from the late 19th century onwwards. Most of the site was covered by a brick building on a North-South alignment, possibly a factory or warehouse, with deep foundations. It was thought that a section of foundations to this building in the South-east corner of the site which extended to a depth of 2.4m, represented an area of cellars and basements. The building was demolished after the Second World War, when the area was used as part of the playgrounds for the Portsea Secondary Modern School for Boys to the south-west of the site. Gravel pits, as shown on the site on Talbot Edward's map of 1716, had remained open until at least the early 19th century. These were subsequently infilled with silty soils, possibly residues from dredging in the dockyard. A small group of mainly 18th century fine wares had been deposited near the bottom of the fill. Accession number 2002/583