Archaeology on Jewry Street

Excavations on this site will help us

to answer questions about how this
corner of Winchester has changed
over the last two thousand years.

The road surface of the medieval

Jewry Street (Scowertenestret –
Shoemakers' Street) has already
been uncovered, along with the walls
of at least one medieval building.
Below this it is likely that there will
be archaeological finds and features
from the earlier Saxon and Roman
towns. Still deeper there may be
Speed's map of Winchester (1610)
archaeology from the Iron Age:
the site is just inside the probable
northern entrance to the fortified
enclosure of Oram's Arbour.
Based on Ordnance Survey data digital data
North Gate © Crown Copyright 2008 all rights reserved.
(site of) Reference Number: 100020449.

Tow
nW
all
Crown
Walk

Orchard
s

Walk
Building
Theatre
Royal

Theatre Royal
De Lunn

Public
TOWER Library
STREET
Cans
i ter
House
use
sH
o

Car Park
Mos
ard
Rich
hgate

rs

Site
mbe

in
se

Public
Nort

Dolph
Hou
Cha

Library
Car Park

Middle Iron Age Ditch

Romano-British Road Godson's map of Winchester (1750)
Romano-British Feature
Car Park
0 50 m St Peter's
The At
rium
RC Church

The Iron Age and Roman period

Based on Ordnance Survey data digital data

Gate North Gate © Crown Copyright 2008 all rights reserved.
(site of) Reference Number: 100020449.

Tow
nW
all
Crown
Walk

Orchard
din s

Walk
Builg
e
Royal
Theatr

Theatre Royal
De Lunn

Public
TOWER Library
STRE ET
Canister
House
se
Hou
Moss

Car Park
Ten
em ent
ard

269
Rich
e
rs
hgat

Site
mbe

in
se

Pubic
l
Nort

Dolph
Ho u
Cha

Library
Car Park Ten
e men
t 26
8
Medieval Ditch
Medieval Road
Medieval Feature
Car Park
0 50 m St Peter's
The At
rium
RC Church

The medieval period 1st edition ordnance survey map (1870-71)

Clanfield Properties Ltd has commissioned

Wessex Archaeology to investigate the site
before redevelopment. Wessex Archaeology

Visit the Winchester Discovery Centre or www.wessexarch.co.uk

 Archaeology on Jewry Street
The flint and cob foundations of a
long, narrow, late medieval or early
post-medieval building run for 11m
across the site and beyond the
excavation, under present day Jewry
Street. The building would have had
timber walls and probably a slate roof.
It was 4.5m wide. Its proportions
follow a familiar pattern, with a
number of rooms, some of them
cellared, stretching back from the old
Scowertenestret. The original large
rooms were later subdivided, reusing
Surveying the internal walls of the medieval building
some stone from an earlier building.

The building appears to be standing

on its own, with garden or yard areas
on each side. This ties in well with
documentary evidence, which
describes the plot as a cottage
belonging to John Shaldene in
AD 1417.

A side door in the north wall of the

building opened onto a cobbled yard
and an outbuilding with a chalk floor.

The yard area to the south is

scattered with rubbish pits. In one
Above and Right:
of them was a piece of medieval Chalk block reused from
an earlier building with a
floor tile. Similar tiles can be seen possible mason's marks
in Winchester Cathedral. or protective symbols

Part of a medieval floor tile with a fleur-de-lys design

Wessex Archaeology

Visit www.wessexarch.co.uk
 Archaeology on Jewry Street
Now the foundations of the late
medieval/early post-medieval building
have been removed, we can see the
lines of two separate plots running
back from Scowertenestret.

On the southern plot are successive

chalk and flint floors from a building,
in use over many years. The building
is some 5m wide and runs across the
site and beyond. It seems to have
been a house rather than a workshop,
since the finds are mostly domestic
Recording the chalk floors
rubbish, including pieces of worked
bone.

The northern plot is quite different.

Here, a two-roomed building roughly
8m x 5m runs parallel to the old
street. There was a lot of metal-
working waste in one of the rooms.
Pits at the back of the building
contained more iron smithing waste.
This workshop, which was re-floored
on several occasions, appears to date
from the tenth to twelfth centuries.

Medieval 'Scowertenestret', or
Shoemakers street, was not confined Late Saxon bone comb
to one industry, it would seem, and
documentary records back this up.
An early twelfth century survey of
Winchester records a goldsmith in
A fine crucible was found in
the street. Fourteenth century one of the pits. It would have
been used in the manufacture
records show a wide range of of copper or silver objects
artisans and trades including smiths,
cutlers, butchers, skinners, tanners,
fullers, weavers and tailors, all
occupying properties owned by either
the King, the Bishop, or Hyde Abbey;
this was a prosperous and
industrious part of the town.

Wessex Archaeology

Visit the Winchester Discovery Centre or www.wessexarch.co.uk

 Archaeology on Jewry Street

Medieval Jewry Street Archaeological slot trench

Scowertenestret cut through Medieval street
(see photo)

Medieval pit

Medieval pit

Medieval pit
Medieval pit Medieval pit

Patches of chalk rubble and mortar

are all that remains of a timber Roman building Through the window
The excavation has begun to reveal Square or rectangular pits can be seen
evidence of the earliest use of the site across the site. These date from the
in the Roman period, a stretch of the Roman and medieval periods and
former line of Jewry Street, medieval represent a series of quarries for building
‘Scowertensetret’, and some deep materials, latrines and wells. They contain
pits too. hundreds of fragments of pottery and
animal bone, as well as bone tools
In the foreground the barest traces of and debris from metalworking - whatever
a Roman building have come to light. they started out as, they all ended up as
Patches of white chalk and mortar are rubbish pits.
evidence of its flooring, while post-
holes and beamslots represent its
timber walls. Although little of the
building has survived, the alignment
of its walls follows that of Roman
streets found nearby.

On the far side of the excavation, the

line of medieval Jewry Street is being
investigated. A slot has been cut
through it revealing many episodes of
resurfacing using large flint cobbles.
Between each surfacing there is a layer
of silt containing finds that, it is hoped,
can help to date the development of Medieval ‘Scowertenestret’ (Shoemakers
the street. It may be possible to street) was a narrow street flanked, as
establish when the street was first laid we have seen, by workshops and traders.
down. Was this in the late 9th century, In this picture of a section through the
in the time of King Alfred, or was it at street, successive episodes of resurfacing
an earlier date? separated by silt and rubbish, are visible.

Wessex Archaeology

Visit the Winchester Discovery Centre or www.wessexarch.co.uk