Monument record MDO8712 - Staggs, Christchurch (site X12); post-medieval terrace and ditch

Excavations in the tenement strip at the rear of the High Street frontage, Staggs site (X12) Christchurch, during 1976, revealed a post medieval terrace 10m wide and 0.7m deep with a fill of grey sand [31] containing late 17th-early 18th century occupation debris including part of an articulated ox skeleton. A ditch [28] cut through this layer on the north side went out of use in the mid 19th century.

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 post medieval terrace 10m wide and 0.7m deep with a fill of grey sand [31] containing late 17th-early 18th century occupation debris including part of an articulated ox skeleton. A ditch [28], cut through this layer on the north side, went out of use in the mid 19th century, a fact confirmed by early maps. The terrace had truncated all the underlying medieval features.

The position of the terrace approximately continued that of medieval boundary ditches and may mark a continuing plot boundary. However, the dump layer [31] suggests that the plot fronting on to the High Street was extended towards the Mill Stream, possibly during the early 18th century. Ditch [28] may mark the limit of this new plot.

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

DCC SMR, to 2003, Former DCC SMR Card Index (Index). SWX8285.

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

Record last edited

Nov 3 2023 12:28PM