Page2      Page3       Page4     Page5      Crawley Priory - section b     

    

      Defences part1          Defences part2  

 

  

The Excavations

The walls of Chichester have been studied by excavation at a number of sites and the main facts of their history in Roman times seem well established(A. E. Wilson, The Archaelogy of Chichester City Walls (Chichester Papers, No. 2. Chichester City Council, 1957 ).

Nothing was known, however, of the defensive ditches which undoubtedly existed outside the walls; an attempt had indeed been made in 1952 to examine the ditches outside the East Walls but the ground had been so disturbed by mediaeval digging that no conclusion could be reached about the Roman defences(S.A.C. 95, 1957, 125.). It seemed possible that the 50-foot wide ditch dug in the reign of Richard II might everywhere have destroyed the Roman works.

In 1959 the Joint Archaeological Committee suggested that their excavating team, of 30-40 diggers, should carry out an excavation in Chichester. The Excavations Committee of Chichester Civic Society decided that this was an opportunity to make a proper investigation of the defensive ditches and their relationship to the walls.

 

Having in mind recent work on other Roman towns, we expected to find an inner ditch, associated with the Roman wall, and a wider outer ditch belonging to the period of the bastions; (P. Corder, Arch. Jl. 112, 1956, 35 and fig. 4. ), but the succession of ditches actually found was more complicated than this. One long trench (T.1) was dug alongside the Palace bastion and the opportunity was taken to re-examine the foundations of this bastion, which had previously been exposed by Hannah in 1933.(S.A.C. 75, 1934, 120-123.)

 

It was estimated that the outer ditch would here have been partly destroyed by the Lavant and permission was obtained to dig another long trench (T.2) in the grounds of the Theological College where a greater space was available. To complete the information about the defences, another trench (T.3) was dug into the bank behind the Roman wall in the grounds of Cawley Priory.

 

There were three phases in the defences:

 

Phase 1.
The town was enclosed by two V-shaped ditches and the material dug from these was used to construct a bank. The front of this bank was revetted with a flint wall more than 7ft. thick. Buildings left outside the enclosing wall were levelled and the ditches were cut through their remains. This phase has been dated to about A.D. 200 as the result of previous excavations into the bank (The Archaeology of Chichester City Walls, 9 ).

 

Phase II.
After an interval during which the V-shaped ditches silted up, the defences were reorganised. Towers (bastions) were built at intervals along the walls and a wider flat-bottomed ditch was cut, partly into the outer ditch. The material was used to fill in the inner ditch. The towers were based on solid foundations, for which holes were dug down through the clay subsoil until the more solid coombe rock was reached. This phase also has been roughly dated, on evidence from a previous excavation, to about the middle of the 4th cent (ibid., 14-16 ).

 

Phase III.
In 1378 the Mayor and Citizens began to repair the walls, turrets and gates and constructed a new ditch, 50ft. wide, around the City (S.A.C. 90,1952,180 ). This ditch, we found, had destroyed most of the Roman outer ditch.
The Lavant, where it flows along the southern side of the town, outside the Palace gardens, looks as though its course lies in the mediaeval ditch. We proved, however, that its bed cuts partly into the filling of this ditch and its Roman predecessors. The present course of the Lavant, therefore, is here of post-mediaeval date.

 

Until about 1800, the Lavant turned northwards along the West Walls, where it ran in an open channel along the course of the mediaeval ditch. At some date between 1781 (Gardner's map ) and 1846 (Tithe map for St. Bartholomew's parish) the stream was enclosed within a brick culvert, which still exists, being used now to carry off storm water; the Lavant stream itself now takes a short cut westward avoiding this culvert.

 

 

Crawley Priory - section b       Defences part1        Defences part2

 

Page2      Page3       Page4     Page5

 

 

 

 

Top of Page       main page:  www.yeoldesussexpages.com