Publications
Romano-British and medieval occupation at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex, by David Godden, published 2008 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 146, article, pp.75-94) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15997] & The Keep [LIB/500364] & S.A.S. library View Online
Abstract:Excavation in a little-investigated part of Chichester's historic core revealed Romano-British and medieval features. There was no evidence to support the existence of a Romano-British forerunner of the road now known as North Pallant; indeed, only a north-south aligned ditch and the remains of two wells were identified suggesting relatively sparse activity in an area away from any street frontage. The principal phase of occupation dates from the second half of the first century AD, although quantities of later material (mostly residual) hint at occupation on or near the site. Near the western edge of the site, late-Saxon - early medieval pits (tenth-twelfth century) indicate renewed activity, perhaps to the rear of properties fronting a road then recently laid out. Later medieval cesspits and refuse pits occurred over the rest of the site, with indications of a gradual westwards shift in focus towards East Pallant. Associated food and artefactual remains are typical of urban medieval assemblages: the one notable find was an ornate thirteenth-century ceramic roof finial. Otherwise there was little to relate to the presumed high status of the only structure from the site, a fourteenth- to early-fifteenth-century vaulted undercroft, part of a building fronting onto North Pallant.