Monument MPM1433 - Remains of Hilsea Bus Depot

Features relating to the construction of the Hilsea Bus Depot, recorded during an archaeological evaluation and watching brief in 2013. The depot was built in the early-1930s on the site of the West Bastion to the 1858 Hilsea Lines defences.

The remains of the former Hilsea Bus Depot were observed during an archaeological evaluation and watching brief at the site in 2013. The building had been demolished to make way for a new development on the site. The remains comprised three construction trenches for walls/foundations, a levelling course for the construction of the depot, a concrete floor, and a drain. The depot had been built during the early 1930s on the site of the West Bastion to the 1858 Hilsea Lines. This section of Hilsea Lines was demolished in order to make way for the depot. In several cases, features relating to the construction of the bus depot had cut through foundations belonging to the Lines.

The bricks from the Hilsea Bus Depot building were frogged and measured 201m long, 100m wide and 65mm thick. The concrete used in its construction had been reinforced with metal bars.

A layer containing large amounts of crushed coal and clinker was situated across most of the site, and was positioned above a demolition layer for the former Hilsea Lines, and below the demolition layer for the bus depot. This was thought to have been a general levelling course for the construction of the depot.

Three construction trenches for walls/foundations relating to the depot were observed. The first was a small section of a construction trench for a possible floor cut wall. It measured at least 1.5m long, 0.9m wide and 0.27m thick, and was filled with a concrete floor. The second trench measured at least 300mm long, 200mm wide and 300mm deep, and was filled with part of a brick and reinforced concrete foundation. This trench had cut two walls and a concrete floor belonging to the former south battery of the Hilsea Lines West Bastion. The third trench was for a concrete foundation and floor in the southwest of the site. This had badly destroyed a series of foundation walls for the former Hilsea Lines.

A drain containing a glazed ceramic drain pipe ran north-south across the middle of the site. This cut several walls and a roadway belonging to the Hilsea Lines. It had been backfilled with a silty clay loam.

A concrete floor at least 3.45m long, 2.4m wide and 144m thick was situated above foundation walls for the former east-west gate to Hilsea Lines.

Accession No: 2013/850

Anderson, E L, Russel, A D, 2014, Report on the Archaeological Evaluation and Watching Brief at the Hilsea Bus Depot site, Portsmouth (Unpublished document). SPM258.