Monument MPM1287 - Remains of Domus Dei and Governor's House

The remains of structures and features relating to the medieval Domus Dei Hospital and 16th century Governor's House, revealed during excavations in 2009. These included a medieval flagged stone floor and 16th century room with fireplace and spice cupboard.

Excavations on Governor's Green in 2009 revealed the remains of structures and features relating to the medieval Domus Dei Hospital complex and 16th century Governor's House which formerly stood on the site. The surviving medieval remains chiefly consisted of the eastern perimeter wall, the surface of a roadway, and a room with a flagged stone floor. The 16th century site was represented by the remains of a room within a rectangular ancillary building which replaced the earlier medieval structure, but had reused elements including walls and stone flags from the floor. The 16th century room had a large fireplace in the centre with an associated spice cupboard, and may have been the kitchen. Evidence of the demolition and levelling of the site in the 19th century was also present. The findings are described in more detail below. All features were present in the same trench (2), one of four excavated during investigations on the site.

Medieval Evidence:

A shallow ditch on a roughly north-south alignment contained sherds of 13th/14th century pottery. The function of the ditch was not determined. It was revealed in a small test pit within the trench against two walls (210 and 231) relating to the 16th century Governor's House. See record MPM for further information relating to these walls.

A wall at the eastern end of the trench was interpreted as the perimeter wall of the Domus Dei complex, as this fronted onto the remains of the medieval roadway which would have formed its eastern boundary. The roadway was made up of a metalled surface of water-worn pebbles, and would originally have joined St. Nicholas Street at the junction with Pembroke Road.

The remains of a doorway, represented by a door jamb, survived in a wall (206) of the same date as the perimeter wall and roadway. The doorway led into a room which had a flagged stone floor at its centre. This floor was interpreted as originally belonging to the medieval Domus Dei, although it was later repaired and reused in the 16th century Governor's House (see below). A structure of unknown date and function butted wall 206, and a smaller wall which was bonded to it. An interpretation of an elevation of 1582 has suggested that wall 206 belonged to either the northern end of the Captain's or Great Chamber, or the Kitchen or Larder (located either side of the Chamber or Hall). It is thought that the kitchen may be most likely, due to the 'rustic' manner in which the flagged stone floor had been laid.

The limited survival of structures relating to the medieval hospital was attributed to the fact that they were completely replaced by the later 16th century residence, although some parts were reused within the new building.


Post-Medieval Evidence:

A series of walls represented the remains of a rectangular 16th century building. The foundation trench for one these, a large load-bearing wall, had cut the earlier medieval flagged floor (see above), although some of the stone flags had been repaired and re-set with a white lime mortar used to bond the 16th century walls. A fireplace partly overlay, and had been inserted into the floor in the centre of the room. The fireplace had an associated spice cupboard formed by reused walls from the medieval structure, and a setting of yellow and green glazed tiles. It is likely the chimney breast leading from the fireplace would have been large, as the back wall of the latter was very substantial. It is thought that this room was located within ancillary buildings shown on the Desmaretz map of 1750, most probably the kitchen.

The earlier perimeter wall of the Domus Dei was replaced by a new one which had cut through the earlier build. A layer of re-deposited natural gravel may have been used to repair the earlier roadway, which was still in use during the 16th century, but does not appear on a map of 1750. Sherds of late medieval and 16th/17th century were contained within the gravel layer.

Evidence of the demolition and levelling of the Governor's House complex in 1826 was observed in the trench. The flagged floor to the north of the fireplace was removed and the area in-filled with loose rubble, the fireplace itself having been extensively robbed out. The walls were either removed or robbed of stone, and residual medieval (including French Saintonge ware) and post-medieval pottery was recovered from accumulation layers which had been deposited over them.

Wessex Archaeology, 2010, Governor's Green Portsmouth, Hampshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SPM221.