EWX547 - Wareham West Walls, Bloody Bank; excavation 1952, 1953 and 1954

Dr E A Gee of the RCHM excavated the West Walls of Wareham from 1952 to 1954. The bank and ditch were sectioned completely in 1952 about 150 yards south of the NW angle of the town rampart (SY 91968748). In 1953 this cutting was supplemented by the excavation of the upper part of the bank a few yards to the north. The bank was also examined near Dorchester Road. [1] In 1954 a further section was dug on Bloody Bank, a little to the south of those dug in 1952-3. [2] The 1952 section revealed that two Iron Age pits had been cut into the old ground surface and sealed by the bank. Overall the excavations revealed the main sequence of construction, subdivided into four phases. Pjase 1 comprised a rampart constructed of mainly sand and gravel obtained from digging the external ditch. The rampart contained a large amount of abraded roman material derived from a black soil suggesting considerable occupation of the area during the 1st-4th centuries. Phase 2 comprised the construction of a broad stone wall on top of the earlier bank, originally reinforced at the rear with clay. Phase 3 comprised the raising of the bank to cover the top of the collapsed wall and a gravel path laid on top. The latest material in this phase was Saxon in date. Phase 4 comprised the robbing of the wall down to its foundations. The bank was also heightened considerably and the ditch completely recut so as to obliterate its original profile and remove some of the face of the original rampart. This phase contained 12th-13th century material. [1]