SOU 1780, 11 Lawn Road, Southampton, Hampshire: Archaeological Watching Brief Report (OASIS ID: wessexar1-311307)

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Sam Lawn Road Ltd to carry out an archaeological watching brief in order to fulfil a planning condition (ref. 16/00740/FUL) relating to the demolition and redevelopment of a new building at 11 Lawn Road, Southampton, Hampshire, centred on National Grid Reference 442761 113637. 11 Lawn Road occupies a 0.6 hectare rectangular parcel of land, on a terrace slightly above Lawn Road, the ground sloping gently down from the north. The works monitored included the excavation of a large attenuation tank, a soak-away and the subsequent removal of overburden from the Site, followed by the excavation of footings for the new building. In situ brickearth deposits were noted across the Site, overlying gravel. A single flint flake was the only pre-18th-century find. However, the watching brief located a buried land surface containing bricks in the north of what was probably a garden associated with Portswood House, built in 1776 and demolished in 1852. The ground surface was subsequently raised by up to 1.2 m in the north of the Site, probably when Lawn Road was laid out, the redeposited gravels sealing the buried soil. Features likely to have been associated with the later 19th century villa that occupied the site, which was demolished after a bomb strike in 1944, included two brick-lined wells. Features of 20th-century comprised a brick-built interceptor tank, a well and the concrete footings and wall of a cellar. The watching brief was conducted over a period of 11 days between 11 December 2017 and 19th January 2018.