Monument MPM276 - Johnson and Johnson site, Paulsgrove

Site of the former Johnson and Johnson Factory, Southampton Road, Paulsgrove. During construction on the site in 1981 a trench across the grass in front of the building revealed a ditch running north-south which contained Iron Age pottery, bone and calcined flint. In another trench to the west, Roman pottery and one possible Saxon sherd was found in the spoil heap. Work undertaken by Portsmouth Museums Service. Museum accession No: 1981/373. [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A shallow Late Iron Age pit had been cut by a pipe trench excavated as part of works for the construction of an extension to the Johnson and Johnson factory in September 1981. This feature was recorded during a watching brief by Portsmouth Museums Service. Three 1m wide cuts were excavated along the projected line of the ditch, which ran on a north-west by south-east alignment between the corner of an existing building and the edge of the A27. The latter was thought to have probably cut the ditch. The ditch was 1.5m wide by 0.3m deep and had a flattened rounded profile. A large quantity of fire damaged flints were present throughout the fill, being concentrated at the bottom of the ditch. A small quantity of finds mainly consisted of pottery sherds. The majority of these were from small late Iron Age jars and were concentrated in the lower fill. Small abraded sherds of Romano-British pottery were recovered from the upper levels of fill. It was thought that the ditch had either been backfilled or silted up during the early Roman period. Pieces of sheep, goat and cattle bone were also recovered from the ditch fill during the cleaning of the sides of the pipe trench. It was not possible to ascertain the exact function the ditch performed as the feature was only partially excavated. [2]