Monument record MDO19357 - Staggs, Christchurch (site X12); medieval pit cluster in central area

Excavations in the tenement strip at the rear of the High Street frontage, Staggs site (X12) Christchurch, during 1976, revealed a complex of 10 pits. They were mainly 0.5m-1.0m deep with one [145] 2.0m deep. This pit had vertical edges and was possibly timber lined. The fills contained small amounts of occupation debris which indicated that the pits extended from the 13th-15th centuries.

K. Jarvis directed excavations in the tenement strip at the rear of the High Street frontage, Staggs site (X12) Christchurch, during 1976. The results were subsequently published as a short note in DNHAS monograph 5 (1).

The excavations revealed a complex of 10 pits. They were mainly 0.5m-1.0m deep, with sloping sides, although one [145] was 2.0m deep. This pit had vertical edges and was possibly timber lined. The fills were generally grey sandy clay loams that contained small amounts of occupation debris. Finds, when closely datable, indicated that the pits extended from the 13th-15th centuries, although the pit complex on the SE side of the central area dated to the 13th-14th century and were sealed by 14th-15th century subsidence layers.

A timber lined well [25] in the NW baulk of the central area had a shaft 3.6m wide at the top converging to a square profile 0.5m wide. The back fill contained 14th-15th century material, although excavation stopped at 2.3m depth due to waterlogging.

An unusual pit [181] dating from the 13th century or earlier was located close to the entrance of the curved enclosure. It was irregular, 0.75m deep, with a fill of leached grey-white sand containing only worked flints. A grey brown sand 0.2m thick and containing 13th century pottery, had subsided into this. The base had fragments of sandy clay packed around a central post pipe 0.4m thick.

Another possibly early medieval pit [372] was flat bottomed, vertical sided, 1.5m deep and filled with grey sand capped with sandy clay. The bottom 0.6m contained no finds except for flints. The few finds in the upper layers suggested a 13th-15th century date for the subsidence.

The central area of the site was part of a distinct unit in medieval times containing two non-contemporary 14th-15th century structures [S2-3]. The 13th century pit complex may relate to earlier occupation of this plot.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 884732 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Jarvis, K S, 1983, Excavations in Christchurch 1969-80, 42-49 (Monograph). SWX4028.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2023 12:29PM