Turk's Boatyard, Kingston upon Thames - Archaeological Assessment Results of excavation

Wessex Archaeology

The excavation, which covered approximately 250m², revealed a sequence of six phases of timber revetments relating to two properties, and these have been linked to the sequences recorded in the earlier investigations. The revetments spanned the 13th – 17th / 18th centuries and demonstrated various construction techniques including post / stake and wattle, plank, and re-used building timbers.

No certain evidence for re-used boat timbers was found, although the majority of the revetments were not well preserved. Dumps of consolidation material behind the five medieval / late medieval revetments contained small amounts of pottery, which increased in quantity to the south nearer the town, but few other finds.

Other medieval features included two shallow drainage ditches. The insubstantial nature of the medieval revetments and their isolation from any landward structures suggest that they had been constructed to reinforce the riverbank to prevent erosion and flooding rather than as quaysides.

Various deposits and a few features have been assigned to the Post-medieval period, almost all pre-dating the Turk’s Boatyard use of the Site which began c. 1777. In addition to a single, late Post-medieval revetment were a sequence of levelling / make-up deposits, at least one pit, a drainage ditch, several post-holes marking a property boundary, and a dump of late 17th century pot wasters (probably brought to the site from London as
ballast) in a pipe trench.