Monument MPM1086 - John Pound Centre

Foundations to a large late-19th century brick building and evidence of post-medieval gravel pits revealed during an archaeological watching brief in 2002. A curved brick-lined feature, thought to be a well, was also observed.

A watching brief in 2002 revealed a series of brick foundations, probably belonging to buildings shown on Ordnance Survey maps of the site from the late 19th century onwards. A brick-lined well, and evidence of former gravel pits, probably infilled in the 19th century, were also observed.

The deep foundations of a large brick building on a North-South alignment, possibly a factory or warehouse, were revealed across much of the site. It was thought that a section of foundations in the South-East corner of the site, extending to a depth of 2.4m, represented an area of cellars and basements. Local hearsay suggested there had been a building associated with a foundry in the vicinity, possibly an ancillary building rather the foundary itself. However, no evidence could be found to support this suggestion. The building was demolished after the Second World War, when the area became part of the playground for the Portsea Secondary Modern School for Boys to the south-west of the site.

A curved brick-lined feature, thought to be a well, was observed in the southern half of the site. This was revealed at a depth of 2.5m and continued beyond 3.8m. The fill contained occasional pieces of pearleware and green-glazed coarse earthenware dating to post c. 1800-1830.

It is thought that the site had been used for gravel extraction, as Talbot Edward's map of 1716 marks 'gravel pits' near the site. Thick layers of silt were observed overlying suspected gravel pits, which may have been infilled during the 19th century. It is possible the pits had been infilled with silt and soil removed during dredging and extraction to expand the dockyard. A deposit of pottery found above an undisturbed gravel layer in one trench contained large sherds of salt-glazed plates, sherds from tin-glazed bowls, a sherd of crudely decorated coarse earthenware, and a sherd of pearlware of late 18th/early 19th century date. The pottery dated mainly from the period 1700-1780, although the Westwald and tin-glazed sherds were possibly of a late 17th century date. This suggests the pits were left at least partially open until the early 19th century. The reason why the site was not built on until the late 19th century may be because the earlier town buildings had avioded areas known to have been used for gravel extraction. A layer of oysters was uncovered in a silt layer at the bottom of another trench, which was found to contain late post-medieval bottles and stonewares, possibly 19th century in date.

Accession number 2002/583

Currie, C K, 2002, An archaeological watching brief at John Pound Centre, St James Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire (Unpublished document). SPM100.