SORVIODUNUM - A REVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 



had shown that this was not true, at least in the NE 

 sector. They recommended further excavations in 

 order to set Old Sarum in its proper perspective. 



BISHOPDOWN 



The discovery in 1953 of a diffusely spread 

 Romano-British rubbish dump on the steep slopes 

 of Castle Hill came as a result of residents turning 

 over their gardens on a new housing estate (Stone 

 and Algar 1955). Consequently, rapid investigations 

 had to be carried out which took the form of visual 

 investigations and sampling at various locations. 

 This revealed that the refuse layer was up to 0.3m 

 thick and lay below about 0.2m of ploughsoil. The 

 greatest concentration occurred in the gardens 

 between nos.14 and 22 Juniper Drive. No 

 discoveries had been reported during the 

 construction of the houses. 



The finds included baked clay and perforated 

 stone roofing tiles, fairly abundant quantities of 

 unabraded sherds, 14 coins and other domestic 

 rubbish. There were just two samian sherds; one 

 dating to the second half of the 1st century and the 

 other to the first half of the 2nd century AD. The 

 remaining pottery was almost entirely New Forest 

 ware dating to the later Roman period. The coins 

 started with an antoninianus of Tetricus II and 

 continued through until the end of the Roman 

 period. The refuse layer clearly indicated the 

 existence of a nearby dwelling or settlement site, 

 which from the ground contours probably lay higher 

 up the hill to the north, in the direction of the 

 Roman road junction, and could be dated to the 

 3rd and 4th centuries AD. 



During 1957 the Salisbury City Engineers 

 Department initiated a water scheme in connection 

 with a reservoir on Castle Hill, Bishopdown. Several 

 miles of trenches were cut across an area that 

 included the Eastern Suburbs of Old Sarum and 

 Bishopdown. No Roman period structures were 

 revealed in the Eastern Suburbs but on Bishopdown 

 15 pits of Iron Age/Roman date were sectioned 

 (Musty 1959, 179-82). The paper detailed typical 

 finds from one pit. These consisted of three bead- 

 rim sherds and a high proportion of burnished black- 

 grey and black wares in the lower levels. The upper 

 layers contained early Roman material including 

 samian ware from the third quarter of the 1st century 

 AD and 'a reddish ware with a sandy glitter'. Musty 

 was of the opinion that the date of the whole group 

 of pits might be as late as the 1 st century AD. 



The paper also took the opportunity to report 

 on further finds made on the Paul's Dene Estate 



since the earlier ones detailed by Stone and Algar 

 (1955). Subsequent finds had come from points to 

 the north and south of the 1953 rubbish layer and 

 may represent an extension of it. From the garden 

 of 14 Hill Top Way part of a flanged bowl of 2nd 

 century AD date had been found and in the bank 

 on the opposite side of the road a large portion of a 

 jar with a simple everted rim. This was possibly early 

 although with it was a sherd from a New Forest 

 ware thumb pot. Pottery found at numbers 9 and 

 1 1 Juniper Drive was all of a late form, including a 

 mortarium with a brown slip and the rims of several 

 jars including a rope rim. 



Three Roman roads should pass through the 

 area sectioned by the water pipeline trench. 

 However no road section was positively identified. 

 This was thought to be due to the obliteration of 

 the Roman levels by the present day roads, some of 

 which lie in comparatively deep cuttings. The paper 

 concluded that there was an Iron Age settlement 

 area on Bishopdown that had carried on in a 

 Romanised form throughout the Roman period. 

 Evidence of occupation is estimated to be spread 

 over an area of at least 4ha. 



In 1991-2, in advance of proposed land 

 development, AC archaeology conducted a staged 

 evaluation, initially over c.70ha centred on 

 SU1 50323 followed by geophysical surveying and 

 sample excavation. Features revealed included Iron 

 Age/Romano-British storage pits, ditches, one of 

 which had a substantial V-profile, and trackways. 

 Dense nucleated scatters of burnt flint were located 

 on the gravelly soils of the higher ridge top running 

 towards Old Sarum and near to the earlier finds in 

 the 1950s and '70s (WANHM 1994, 155). In 1997 

 a series of test pits were dug by Wessex Archaeology 

 for Wiltshire County Council over an area of 0.7ha 

 on farmland to the east of Old Sarum 

 (SU14753267) representing part of the proposed 

 route of the Salisbury Northern Link Road. The 

 finds were predominantly small quantities of worked 

 and burnt flint together with Romano-British and 

 Medieval pottery (WANHM 1999, 139). 



STRATFORD-SUB-CASTLE 



Over a period of about 15 years, from 1962 until 

 1977, a number of excavations were undertaken in 

 Stratford-sub-Castle, the archaeological fieldwork 

 being carried out by members of the Salisbury 

 Museum Archaeological Research Group 

 (SMARG) . Very brief details of the various pieces 

 of work, except for the excavation of a substantial 

 building in 1977, were given in WANHM and/or 



