Monument record MDO19361 - Staggs, Christchurch (site X12); ditch B bank

Excavations in the tenement strip at the rear of the High Street frontage, Staggs site (X12) Christchurch, during 1976, revealed a clay layer [302] , earlier than the 13th century, running across the trench in a NW-SE alignment. Its position suggests that it may be a bank associated with large medieval ditch B identified in a watching brief to the north during 1982.

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 clay layer [302] running across the trench in a NW-SE alignment. This layer of compacted sandy clay lay immediately beneath the topsoil in an area 2.7m wide and at least 3.5m long. There were no finds but an early date was indicated by 13th century pits cut into it. It was deposited directly on top of natural sand.

An identical layer has been identified several metres to the SE during an excavation in 1973. No evidence such as ditches, was found to indicate the purpose of this layer and its function remains conjectural. However, its position suggests that it may be a bank associated with large medieval ditch B identified in a watching brief to the north during 1982.

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