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Excavations at Gloucester: Third Interim Report: Kingsholm 1966–751

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Extract

The results of excavations carried out in 1972 and 1974 and the records of builders' and service trenches over nine years, combined with reports of past discoveries, make up a body of evidence for Kingsholm's use first as a pre-Flavian military site (or sites) of more than one phase covering c. 50 acres, then as a late or sub-Roman cemetery and later as the site of the late Saxon and later aula regis. The archaeological evidence for the palace is supported by an account of the documentary evidence for its history and topography. Specialist studies are offered of the classification and iconography of the decorated bronze cheekpiece of pre-Flavian cavalry helmet and of a furnished inhumation probably of the early fifth century A.D.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1975

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References

page 267 fn 2 Hurst directed the 1972 excavation as Field Archaeologist for Gloucester City Museum. Garrod carried out the work at 72 Dean's Way and has recorded most of the other recent finds, since 1974 in his capacity as Field Archaeologist for the Gloucester Museums Excavation Unit. Thanks are offered to all the volunteers who helped in the dig (a daily average of about twelve); Mrs. P. Torrington for assistance with site drawings; Miss M. Davis for pottery shed work; Mrs. M. Greenacre, Mrs. O. F. Wylie, and Miss M. Pope for conservation; Mrs. J. Gill and D. Lloyd Owen for small find drawing; Mr. M. Watkins for pottery drawing; Messrs. R. M. Bryant and P. A. Moss for the drawings used in this report; Russell Adams, F.R.P.S. and Marley Photography for photographs; and the neighbouring residents for their kindness and hospitality. For specialist reports or advice we are indebted to Mrs. F. Wild and Mr. H. Pengelly (samian); Dr. D. P. S. Peacock (amphorae); Mr. K. Green (other Roman imported pottery); Miss J. Price (glass); Dr. C. R. Oyler (human remains); Mr. H. R. Robinson (Roman military equipment); Mr. A. Vince (medieval pottery); Mr. J. F. Rhodes (coin indentifications).

page 268 fn 1 The average Roman ground level at Kings-holm was 5–6 m. below that of the colonia site.

page 268 fn 2 Antiq. Journ. liv (1974), 4651Google Scholar.

page 268 fn 3 The Twyver now flows from south to north, joining the main river at Walham. The former main river course would have flowed the opposite way.

page 268 fn 4 J.R.S. xxxii (1942), 40–1Google Scholar.

page 268 fn 5 Webster drew attention to it in Arch. Journ. cxv (1960), 56, 79Google Scholar. He postulates a fortress at Kingsholm for the XXth legion from A.D. 47: Britannia, i (1970), 186Google Scholar.

page 269 fn 1 By Richmond's trenches in 1961: T.B.G.A.S. lxxxi (1962), 1416Google Scholar (their plan, fig. 5 here, is based on an unpublished plan in the City Museum). It is just conceivable, but unlikely, that they were dug across disturbed ground so that they have no value as negative evidence.

page 269 fn 2 See, for example, T. D. Fosbrooke, History of the City of Gloucester (1819), pp. 23–4.

page 269 fn 3 In the Gloucestershire County Records Office, Q RI 70.

page 272 fn 1 These details are taken from the report which Dr. Oyler kindly submitted.

page 274 fn 1 Med. Arch. vi–vii (1962–3), 57Google Scholar, fig. 20.

page 275 fn 1 By Garrod, with the encouragement of the owner, Mr. M. Parrant, to whom we are indebted. Mr. Parrant's son had previously dug a small trench near the north-east corner of the garden and exposed the top Roman level. Finds from this included Roman coins and bronze objects, mainly from the dark loam level (cf. page 276, Late Saxon and later Medieval) and a small length of plaster was exposed in situ, probably from a timber building contemporary to that described here (Early Roman).

page 275 fn 2 Mr. D. Bailey of the British Museum kindly identified the fragment.

page 276 fn 1 Unless otherwise stated all the previously unpublished evidence given here is from the City Museum catalogue. We are indebted to Mr. J. F. Rhodes for allowing the use of this. Most of the earlier discoveries listed here are mentioned in L. E. W. O. Fullbrook Leggatt, Roman Gloucester (1968), pp. 59–64, 72–3.

page 277 fn 1 Numbers preceded by N. or NX. refer to the Museum's numismatic collection; numbers preceded by A. to other catalogued Museum accessions.

page 277 fn 2 From rubbish hole in garden. Thanks are due to Mrs. Manley for making this information available.

page 278 fn 1 From garden cultivation. Thanks are due to Mr. R. A. Ellis for making this information available.

page 278 fn 2 Recorded by both writers.

page 278 fn 3 T.B.G.A.S. i (1876), 154–5Google Scholar.

page 278 fn 4 T.B.G.A.S. lxxii (1953), 152Google Scholar.

page 278 fn 5 Collected by Garrod in 1969; level of crushed tile also noted immediately above original ground level.

page 278 fn 6 This and the 1940 sewer were recorded by Green. Much of the pottery he then collected is missing; reference is only made to pieces still in the Museum collection and accurately provenanced.

page 278 fn 7 Unpublished summary by A. G. Hunter in City Museum.

page 278 fn 8 Recorded by Garrod, 1969.

page 278 fn 9 T.B.G.A.S. lxxxvi (1967), 197–8Google Scholar.

page 278 fn 10 A. 7224 illustrated in J.R.S. xxxiii (1943), 27Google Scholar, fig. 6.35; A. 7225–6 ibid., fig. 6.23.

page 278 fn 11 Illustrated in ibid., fig. 5.3.

page 278 fn 12 Recorded by Garrod, 1972.

page 279 fn 1 T.B.G.A.S. lxvii (1948), 347–58Google Scholar.

page 279 fn 2 Recorded by both of the writers.

page 279 fn 3 We are indebted to Mr. D. F. Allen for his identification.

page 279 fn 4 Proc. C.N.F.C. xvi (19081909), 123–5Google Scholar.

page 279 fn 5 Site visited by A. G. Hunter 1961: note in Museum card index.

page 279 fn 6 Richmond's excavation: T.B.G.A.S. lxxx (1962), 1416Google Scholar. See above, p. 269, n. 1.

page 279 fn 7 Recorded by Garrod.

page 279 fn 8 Noted by Garrod, 1966.

page 279 fn 9 Recorded by Garrod, 1975.

page 279 fn 10 Recorded by Green, 1941. Part of the unpublished note he made at the time (subsequently sent to Garrod) reads: ‘I examined the cutting [a 3 ft.–(9O cm.–) wide drain trench] and found it t o be almost entirely through made-up ground in which were potsherds of the 15th. and later centuries. At one point in the cutting, however, the line of the base of the tipped material rose up in a gentle curve revealing below what was probably the upper part of a clay bank, running a little E. of N. On the tip near this bank were a few sherds of RB pottery, including fragments of early plain Samian and a pedestal base. A coin of Vespasian (COS III–AD 71) was also found here and shown to me by one of the workmen. The foreman told me that when he was a boy, a bank ran in this direction and it was later made up when the Football Club took the ground. This verifies T. Watkins' story of a bank on this site. I take this to be the W. vallum of Kingsholm legionary fortress.’ [A sketch shows that a 10 ft. (3 m.) width of bank was exposed, rising to a height of 1 ft. 6 in. (4.5 cm.) above the base of the cutting; the crest of it was 3 ft. (90 cm.) below the modern ground surface.] Hence the reference in J.R.S. xxxii (1942), 46. The note itself shows that the interpretation is unwarranted, but it can now be added that the alignment of the bank differs from that of the Roman timber buildings found in 1972 and 1974: perhaps it relates to the adjacent Dean's Walk (medieval Tullwellstreet).

page 280 fn 1 Archaeologia, vii (1785), 376Google Scholar.

page 280 fn 2 Lysons, S., Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae, ii (1817), pls. xixvGoogle Scholar; see Arch. Journ. cxv (1958), 7980Google Scholar.

page 280 fn 3 T.B.G.A.S.X (1876), 155.

page 280 fn 4 Gentleman's Magazine, 1853, part II, 39–40.

page 280 fn 5 J.R.S. xxxiii (1943), 46Google Scholar, fig. 6. Apart from the negative evidence for this area of the 1961 trenches, the type of construction Green suggests is improbable and unlike that revealed by the 1972 excavation.

page 280 fn 6 See account above, p. 276.

page 281 fn 1 Information Mrs. L. M. Peck. The altar was dug up in the garden by her husband and given to the occupants of 88 Kingsholm Road (now Bijou Court). Garrod rediscovered it in the rockery there in 1969.

page 281 fn 2 Proc. C.N.F.C. xxv (1934), 202Google Scholar.

page 281 fn 3 Unstratified from foundation trench for extension to building in 1973.

page 282 fn 1 See p. 278 n. 4 above.

page 282 fn 2 Information Miss Whitmore, then the occupant of the neighbouring 12 Kingsholm Square.

page 282 fn 3 Information Mrs. Lambert, the occupant of 1 Sandhurst Road.

page 282 fn 4 Observed by Garrod, 1972.

page 282 fn 5 See p. 278 n. 9 above.

page 282 fn 6 T.B.G.J.S. lxvii (1948), 347–58Google Scholar.

page 282 fn 7 Proc. C.N.F.C. xvi (19081909), 123–5Google Scholar.

page 282 fn 8 T.B.G.J.S. lxxxvi (1967), 198Google Scholar.

page 282 fn 9 Recorded by J. F. Rhodes. See Glevensis (Review of the Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group), No. 7 (1973).

page 283 fn 1 Recorded by Garrod, 1974.

page 283 fn 2 Ibid., 1975.

page 283 fn 3 Small excavation (unpublished) by Mr. G. T. Harding.

page 283 fn 4 Furney, unpublished manuscript History of Gloucester (1746). In the County Records office, D327.

page 283 fn 5 Archaeologia, vii (1785), 376Google Scholar.

page 283 fn 6 Ibid.

page 283 fn 7 Gloucestershire Journal, 2 September 1854.

page 283 fn 8 T. D. Fosbrooke, History of the City of Gloucester (1819), p. 22.

page 283 fn 9 T.B.G.A.S. xiii (18881889), 50Google Scholar. Fullbrook Leggatt (op. cit., p. 63) places the find in ‘Mark Street’.

page 283 fn 10 Gloucestershire Chronicle, 8 March 1890.

page 283 fn 11 S. Lysons, The Romans in Gloucestershire (1860), p. 47, note.

page 283 fn 12 J. Bellows, Letters and a Memoir (1904), 30.

page 284 fn 1 Archaeologia, vii (1785), 376Google Scholar. See below, p. 286, and Brit. Numism. Journ. xxix (19581959), 69 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 284 fn 2 Found in garden by Mr. S. Chrin.

page 284 fn 3 Found by Garrod in 1969.

page 284 fn 4 T.B.G.A.S. lxxxvi (1967), 197–8Google Scholar.

page 284 fn 5 F. Barlow (ed.). Life of Edward the Confessor (1962), p. 21.

page 284 fn 6 W. de G. Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum (1885–93), no. 574 (reprinted with translation in T.B.G.A.S. v (18801881), 150–3Google Scholar)

page 284 fn 7 William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum (ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, 1870), p. 293, De Gestis Regum Anglorum (ed. W. Stubbs, 1887–9), ii, p. 136. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, C, anno 909, D, 906, for the transfer of bones; ibid. C, 918 places Ethelfleda in St. Peter's Abbey. St. Oswald's was a Free Chapel Royal in the time of Henry I and later: Cal. Pat. Rolls 1385–9, p. 525; Cal. Close Rolls 1313–18, p. 596.

page 284 fn 8 For a summary of the king's presence at Gloucester, see M. Biddle, Seasonal Festivals and Residence to be published in The Archaeology and History of the European Town (CBA, forthcoming).

page 284 fn 9 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle E, anno 1087. See Biddle, op. cit. for a commentary on this passage.

page 284 fn 10 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle E, anno 1085.

page 284 fn 11 Domesday Book contains one other reference to the ‘hall of Gloucester’ (at fol. 172b): In Wich [Worcestershire] est dimidia hida quae pertinet ad aulam de Glouuecestre.

page 286 fn 1 Brit. Numism. Journ. xxix (19581959), 69 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 286 fn 2 J. H. Round (ed.), Ancient Charters prior to 1200 (1888), no. 3. See also Antiq. Journ. liv (1974), 12Google Scholar.

page 286 fn 3 Thorpe, B. (ed.) Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi Chronicon, ii (1849), p. 105Google Scholar.

page 286 fn 4 Wright, W. A.: (ed.), The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (1887), ii, p. 714Google Scholar.

page 286 fn 5 Summarized in Brown, R. Allen, Colvin, H.M., and Taylor, A. J., A History of the King's Works (1963), ii, p. 652Google Scholar.

page 286 fn 6 St. Peter's Abbey Register B, no. 874 (see Kirby, I. M., Records of the Diocese of Gloucester, ii (1967), p. 6Google Scholar).

page 286 fn 7 Ibid., nos. 496, 497, 499.

page 286 fn 8 The manor house was a ruin as early as 1591, according to a lease included in the 1607 survey of the manor (Glos. County Records Office D326/E1, fol. 58b). For later observations see p. 269 n. 2, above.

page 287 fn 1 Chan. Ing. post mortem 32 Edw. I, no. 52.

page 287 fn 2 Ibid., temp. Hen. III, no. 247.

page 287 fn 3 Hart, W. H. (ed.), Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae (1863), iii, p. 67Google Scholar.

page 287 fn 4 Chan. Ing. post mortem 32 Edw. I, no. 52.

page 287 fn 5 Hart, op. cit. i, 65.

page 287 fn 6 Cal. Close Rolls 1227–31 p. 31. See T.B.G.A.S xliii (1921), 113–14Google Scholar.

page 287 fn 7 Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), ii. p. 487. York Reg. Greenfield fo. 92b (1309).

page 288 fn 1 Robinson, , Russell, H., ‘Fragments of a Roman Cavalry Cheek-piece from the Fort at Newstead’, P.S.A.S. cii (1969–70), 290–2Google Scholar.

page 288 fn 2 This cheek-piece has not yet been published.

page 288 fn 3 Museum, Newark; Archaeologia, lviii (1903), 573, pl. LVGoogle Scholar.

page 288 fn 4 T. Flavius Bassus and an unknown cavalryman at Cologne; C. Romanius at Mainz; two unknown cavalrymen at Worms. Though treated in the simplest possible way, the helmet of Rufus Sita at Gloucester is of the same Attic type.

page 289 fn 1 Curie, J., A Roman Frontier Post and its People (1911), pp. 164–6, pl. xxvi, IGoogle Scholar.

page 290 fn 1 Bayerns Frühzeit: Friedrich Wagner zum 70. Geburtstag, 1962, p. 190, no. 3, pl. 16 and p. 193, note 22. I owe these references to the kindness of Dr. Hans Klumbach of Mainz.

page 292 fn 1 R. Pirling, Krefeld (1966), 19–20, Taf. 10.

page 293 fn 1 Arch. Belgica, xxxiv (1957), 214–19, 200–2Google Scholar.

page 293 fn 2 Med. Arch. v (1961), 40 and 48Google Scholar; V. I. Evison, Fifth-Century Invasions (1965), fig. 17, and pl. 11; Arch. Cantiana lxix (1955), 13Google Scholar.

page 293 fn 3 Antiq. Journ. 1 (1970), 292–8Google Scholar; Arch. Belgica cxxxv (1971)Google Scholar.

page 293 fn 4 Ashmolean Museum, accessions registers and Rolleston's papers.

page 293 fn 5 Cf. Mitcham gr. 205 (R. E. M. Wheeler, London and the Saxons (1930), p. 120, and now Antiq. Journ. lv (1975)) 8695Google Scholar Dorchester, Minchin Recreation Ground (Oxoniensia, xvii (1952), 63Google Scholar), Krefeld, graves 902, 1076, and 1224. Similar pins occur on late fourth-century tutulus brooches, Werner, J., Arch. Geog. i (1950), 2332Google Scholar.

page 293 fn 6 Green glass beads imitate plasma and emerald, The similarity and repetitiveness of beads on Roman necklaces contrast with the mixed nature of beads on Anglo-Saxon ones. Cf. Pilloy, , Etudes sur d'anciens lieux de sèpultures dans l'Aisne, ii (1895), 253–62Google Scholar, pl. 20.

page 294 fn 1 I am grateful to Giles Clarke for discussing his Lankhills finds with me; see Antiq. Journ. 1 (1970), 292–8Google Scholar; Med. Arch. v (1961), 170Google Scholar.

page 294 fn 2 E. Keller, Die spätromischen Grabfunde in Südbayern (1971); Med. Arch. v. (1961), 170Google Scholar; H. Bullinger, Spätantike Gürtelbeschlage (1969); Ber. R.O.B. xix (1969), 89128Google Scholar.

page 294 fn 3 Trans. Birmingham and Warwicks. Arch. Soc. lxxxv (1972), 145–51Google Scholar.