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The Excavations

 

 

During the excavation Miss R. Finey examined a number of soil samples which she selected from different layers in the ditches. She recorded the soil type, contents, sedimentation and Ph value of each sample and the appearance of the layer from which it came. She was then able to suggest the probable conditions under which the layer had been deposited. Her report is given here, omitting reference to those layers, such as the topsoil and subsoil, which were of no archaeological importance.

 

The sedimentation test was by a simple method. Two dessert-spoonfuls of soil were mixed thoroughly with 100 m.l. of tap water and left to stand for approximately half an hour. Soil type was determined by texture following an American system quoted in A Guide to Field Biology by John Sankey (Longmans 1958).

 

Samples from the inner ditch in T.1:

Sample C (layer 9) possibly indicates ditch fill of some sort as it contains particles of brick dust. Sample D (layer II) resembles the natural clay underlying the top and subsoil in this region.

 

Samples from the outer ditch in T. 1:

Sample 4 (layer 4). This layer could have been laid down when the ditch became filled with silt and therefore no longer had any depth of water in it. The snail shells found here appear to belong to a land-living form and the charcoal and brick dust could indicate an accumulation of rubbish thrown or blown on to this site.

 

Sample 5 (layer 5). This sample shows vertical orange streaks, a common feature of badly-drained, waterlogged soils. This layer possibly was laid down by a foot or two of very slowly running water, which filled the ditch, which over a period of time silted up.

 

Sample 6 (layer 6). This was possibly the bottom of the later Roman ditch. It contained a great many snail shells of a shape usually found in water. The flints and gravel could have been thrown into this ditch and come to rest on the bottom layer of silt which had already dried out to some extent.

 

Sample 7 (layer 7). The silt in this specimen contained much more clay than in sample 5. The little burrows in it are reminiscent of those seen in the mud of creeks where they are formed by a small mud-inhabiting crustacean. The differences between the two layers of silt, and their separation by a layer of stones and gravel, seem to indicate the presence of two ditches which were filled with a shallow layer of water, but separated from each other in time. The older ditch silted up and possibly almost dried out before the other ditch was made and water was re-directed into it.

 

Sample 8 was taken from the bottom of the ditches. It is composed of natural coombe rock similar to that found on the opposite bank of the present Lavant river.

Samples A, B, C, were taken to indicate what material composed the wall of the ditch and the samples seem to indicate that the banks are cut into the natural rock.

 

Samples from the outer ditch in T.2:

The results are comparable with those found for T. 1. The upper layer of silt, sample D (layer 14b), is very similar to sample 5. There is a similar band of fints and snail shells. The lower silt, sample F (layer 14c) shows similarities with sample 7, particularly in the little burrows seen in it. Sample F also shows a more mottled appearance which may be due to a difference in type of bed rock. Here it is gravel instead of coombe rock. Sample G was taken in the bottom of the ditches, in this gravel.

 

Sample d (layer 24) shows possibly a wet ditch-fill. The slight mottling indicates poor drainage.

 

Sample g, from below the bottom of the ditch (below layer 24), shows similarities with the bed rock of this ditch (sample G).

 

Samples from the south bank of the Lavant, opposite T.1:

These samples were taken to investigate the nature of the natural soils and the results tally with those known from previous borings. The natural sequence is yellow clay followed by a gravel layer, followed by the whitish chalk rock washed down from the hills, called coombe rock. The depth at which the coombe rock is found varies quite a lot over the area. Many Chichester buildings have their foundations in or on it. A well sunk recently in the south part of the City reached permanent water beneath this layer at about 12ft. The present south bank of the Lavant seems to be a normal river bank, not sloped as were the ditch sides.

 

Acknowledgments

Most of the archaeology, consisting of the observation of the layers, the recording of finds and the drawings made in the field, is the work of the Site Supervisors; Barry Cunliffe was in charge of work on the bastion and inner ditch and Ruth Levy took charge of the outer ditch at this site; Carol Cruikshank supervised the excavation of the inner and outer ditches in T.2.

 

The Cawley Priory trench was begun by Clare Wilson and continued during the autumn by lan Walter.   R. Finey made a special study of the soils and her work has made it possible to identify and distinguish the fillings of the various ditches and to identify the natural deposits of this area.

 

Mr. Brian Hartley, F.S.A.. provided me with some reliable dates for the key pieces of samian pottery. Miss A. Grosvenor-Ellis identified the bones. Mrs. Margaret Rule, with Mr. Rule, managed the financial and business affairs of the excavation, on behalf of the Joint Archaeological Committee.

 

 

Crawley Priory - section b       Defences part1        Defences part2

 

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