Monument MPM34 - East Ravelin

Excavations carried out in Ravelin Park in 1972 revealed extensive remains of the town defences. The remains of the rampart wall, counterscarp wall, moat and salient apex of the East Ravelin were revealed during the evaluation. The excavations also revealed that the construction of the East Ravelin had cut into a gun platform belonging to Bernard de Gomme's 17th century defences. See records MPM1879-1882 for full details. [1] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A series of walls, thought to be the remains of the East Ravelin, were uncovered during a watching brief on the site of the Old Students Union in 2004 (now a car park). The trench containing the walls ran north-south in the eastern half of the site. It was suggested that a large limestone rubble wall revealed on a NW-SE alignment at the southern end of the trench may have been part of the back wall of the Ravelin. If this is the case, earlier projections of where the defences were positioned would need to be moved approximately 15-20m north to accomodate this, as the wall was previously thought to have been under Museum Road. At the northern end of the trench was a limestone wall on a roughly east-west alignment, possibly the remains of the northern outer wall to the Ravelin, although only its south edge survived. Between the back and outer walls, were three further stone walls. These may have been internal walls within the Ravelin itself, or may relate to the pre-1860 phases of the site. Two cuts with steep north sides, containing dirty gravel and lined with clay, were also observed in the same trench. Their exact function could not be determined. It was suggested they may be ditch cuts, although this was thought unlikely due to their position in relation to the walls. Further suggestions were that they may relate to earlier phases of the site, or were robbing cuts from the later 19th century demolition. A linear feature which crossed a trench at right-angles on the far east end of the site may have been an 18th century ditch. This contained occasional small brick fragments and a clay pipe bowl dating to 1680-1740. [2] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The northern and inner walls of the East Ravelin, together with part of the moat, were observed during archaeological investigations in 2018-2019. The northern wall was constructed of faced limestone blocks 0.48m x 0.40m x 0.30m and had a rubble core. The wall survived to a height of 3.33m and was observed for a length of 25m, continuing beyond the limit of the area excavated. Four gun embrasures for cannon were identified on the inner side of the wall overlooking the moat along the line of the scarp (inner moat wall). These were the same size as embrasures added to Town Mount Bastion indicating that the embrasures on the bastion were also added by Sir Bernard de Gomme. The moat around the ravelin was 16.48m wide. The base was not observed during the excavations. The moat cut was effectively also the construction cut for the ravelin wall on the north side. The inner wall of the ravelin was constructed of limestone and a small amount of yellow sandstone. It measured 1.50m wide and survived to a maximum height of 3.56m OD*. The remains consisted of four courses of foundation, the largest blocks measuring 0.50m x 0.40m x 0.12m. The wall was recorded for a length of 26m. An integral brick drain ran from the east side of the wall into a ditch-like channel cut into the glacis (slope) of the ravelin. The bricks were of varying sizes and had possibly been re-used. The drain fed into a ditch 0.78m wide x 0.85m deep which ran parallel to the wall and was filled with a series of deposits of domestic origin. These were thought to have probably related to the final years the Ravelin was in use. A large amount of residual fragments of pottery and glass dating to the 19th century and earlier was recovered from the lowest fill of the ditch. The pottery included earthenwares, porcelain, tablewares, and stoneware jars. A glass drug bottle from a chemists in Palmerston Road, Southsea, was recovered from a layer immediately above. The top fill of the ditch was slightly lower than the demolished wall. A clay tobacco pipe dating to 1760-1800 was recovered, together with residual 16th-17th century pottery and 19th century bottle glass. A layer of silt at the base of the moat was thought to have accumulated while it was in use. A Mesolithic flint core and a small sherd from a 14th century jug were recovered from the deposit, a sample of which contained charcoal, clinker and coal fragments and a small glass bead. A layer of backfill above this deposit contained a 17th century Verwood-type jug, 16th century brick fragments and animal bones from cattle, sheep, horse and red deer. This was overlain by a second layer of backfill, above which was a sequence of dumped deposits relating to secondary infilling. The infill that formed these deposits appeared to have been brought from outside the defences. Fragments of 18th century 'onion' bottles were recovered from these deposits. The next sequence of deposits came from the ravelin itself. A stony fill at the top of the moat was probably used as the final levelling fill. See record MPM2033 for further information about archaeology recorded during the investigations. *Ordnance Datum - sea level