Maritime record MDO22198 - Buried vessel, King's Road, Swanage

Bournemouth Visitors Directory 29 June 1912 - In the digging of a deep trench for laying a new water main in King’s Road, Swanage, there has been found 6 feet below the surface of the road, the greater part of an ancient craft, probably a barge for loading stone, and pronounced by local antiquaries to be some hundreds of years old. The craft was well built of sound English oak, the timbers placed rather closely together and fastened strongly with trenails. She seems to have been a vessel of over 50 tons burthen, and probably she came up the old creek, long since silted up. A few yards east of the barge the workmen also unearthed a short flight of stone steps leading down to the water.

It lay six feet below the surface of the road and was built of English oak. As the men had to cut down the sides of the vessel to make room for the pipe, I was able to obtain two pieces of the relic. The size of her timbers was 9 in. by 41/2 in. and they were placed rather close together, the outside top plank was 13 in. deep and 3 in. thick, and strongly fastened together with tree-nails; there were no inside planks or lining visible. Perhaps this will account for the large size of her timbers and planks. She must have been a vessel of over 50 tons burthen, and been there for at least five or six hundred years, and more than probably she was one of the old vessels trading up the Swanage creek for stone. At the same time a short flight of stone steps was unearthed, leading down to the water, a few yards east of the old barge. One would have much liked to have seen more of this old craft; but owing to there being so much water in the trench we were unable to do so. (1)

<1> Hardy, W M, c1915, Swanage Bay in the Nineteenth Century (Monograph). SDO11514.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 4:52PM