Rear of 1 Padwell Road, Southampton. Archaeological Watching Brief (SOU1712)

Goodwill Homes Ltd obtained planning permission to construct a 2-storey detached 3-bed house with accommodation in the roof space, associated parking and cycle refuse storage, at the rear of 1 Padwell Road, Southampton. The property had been The Avenue public house until recently. The pub, in the north part of the property was constructed in the late 19th century as part of the development of the Inner Avenue area on the grounds of Bevois Mount. Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and medieval evidence has been found in the vicinity, including Saxon pottery on a nearby site at 14-16 Mordaunt Road. The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out the watching brief between 18/04/2016 to the 20/04/2016. Prior to calling in the archaeologist the developer had excavated the footprint of the proposed building to a depth of 600mm removing the topsoil and the weathered brickearth subsoil which could have included archaeological artifacts and features. Natural gravel was observed some 1.1m below the surface. Above was natural brickearth some 400-500mm thick. Six features were dated to the early modern period: a circular soakaway, a large rectangular pit, part of the foundation of one of the outbuildings shown on the 1870 map, and three small pits. A soakaway, a post-hole, and the topsoil were dated to the modern period.