Fruit and Vegetable Market, Southampton - Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

Wessex Archaeology

A programme of archaeological work including excavation and watching brief was undertaken within a block of land located at the former Fruit and Vegetable Market, Back of the Walls, Southampton, Hampshire. The site, covering approximately 1.15 hectares, is centred on National Grid Reference (NGR) 442139 111222.

Following evaluation in 2014−15, the excavations and watching brief were undertaken in 2015−17, in advance of and during redevelopment. Together they revealed significant remains of Late Saxon–post-medieval date, on a site in the centre of Southampton extending across the east side of the medieval town defences. Underground car parking, piling and drainage works were designed to minimise the impacts of the new development on archaeological deposits and retain, as far as possible, these in situ. Hence, the archaeological work was targeted, in general, on specific areas where such deposits would be damaged or destroyed.

A single worked flint and four sherds of Romano-British pottery (as well as some CBM) occurred as residual finds. The earliest feature recorded was a section of Late Saxon defensive ditch was recorded, which provides further important information on the layout and extent of the early town. Medieval remains spanned the 11th to 16th century and included a short exposure of the town wall, a large number of pits – some of which defined a property boundary extending back from the High Street, the foundations of at least one ancillary building, and ditches forming part of an extramural field system, the latter overlain by a late medieval ploughsoil. The earlier property boundary continued to be defined by pits in the post-medieval period, and included one of 17th-century date possibly associated with an inn that contained a notable assemblage of pottery, clay pipes and mineralised plant remains.

Part of the short-lived early 19th-century Southampton to Salisbury canal was investigated, providing an almost complete section and demonstrating that here at least its construction had removed all trace of the medieval town outer ditch. Later features included elements of a WWII public air raid shelter and the very substantial basement of the post-war Fruit and Vegetable Market.