Southsea Coastal Defence Scheme, Sub-Frontage 4, Southsea Castle - Archaeological Watching Brief - Caponier Investigation

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological watching brief during works at the Southsea Castle Scheduled Monument (NHLE 1001869) as part of the wider scheme of the Southsea Coastal Defence Scheme. The watching brief was carried out as a condition of Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC) which has been granted by Historic England (ref: S00244012).

The watching brief monitored the hand excavation of a single test pit, measuring 3.0 m long, 1.0 m and wide and approximately 1.0 m deep within the castle moat. The test pit was excavated in the corner of the western side of where the caponier meets the interior castle wall, with the length of the trench aligned parallel with the caponier wall.

The monitored test pit exposed the foundations of the caponier and the interior castle walls within the moat, allowing for their characteristics and depth to be recorded. No other archaeological features or deposits were identified within the test pit. The excavated material that forms the backfill of the moat dates to within the last century with no evidence of earlier phases of backfilling within the exposed depth of 1.0 m bgl.