Evaluation, Watching Brief at 31-33 High Street Southampton Watching Brief and Evaluation

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Stelling Properties Ltd., to undertake an archaeological evaluation and subsequent watching brief during groundworks associated with the provision of student accommodation at 31-33 High Street, Southampton. The watching brief was undertaken after a separate three trench archaeological evaluation was conducted by Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit in 2023, all these works were carried out under the Southampton site code SOU 1969. The archaeological mitigation was undertaken in multiple phases between 2nd February and 9th July 2024. Comprising three trenches the evaluation revealed multiple made ground deposits, corroborated by the stratigraphic sequence revealed during the archaeological monitoring of groundworks. Comprising multiple layers associated with demolition activities, earlier services, basements and ground level structures, the extent of the made ground deposits indicated widespread and extensive truncation across the development area. Indeed, a single possible area of in situ brickearth was recorded during the monitoring of the installation of piles in the south-east of the site. Elsewhere, the only brickearth observed was that pertaining to redeposited material. Medieval and post-medieval soils, likened to garden soils, survived sporadically across the site with a post-medieval pit and posthole the only datable features encountered. A well of uncertain provenance but likely to be post-medieval in date was also identified, alongside an associated culvert.