Shippams Factory and Shippams Sports & Social Club

Written by Jo Taylor,
Edited by Graham Sherwood

The former Shippams Factory and Shippams Sports & Social Club, Chichester were excavated by Pre-Construct Archaeology between January and July 2006. The archaeological project was funded by Kier Property Developments Ltd, and advised upon by Giffords Archaeology, in advance of the redevelopment of the site for mixed-use residential and commercial properties.

The Shippams site consists of a c.9000m² area formerly occupied by Shippams meat paste factory located within the northeast quadrant of Chichester adjacent to the city walls and fronting onto East Street. An additional area measuring c.1000m², the former Sports & Social Club, was located immediately to the northeast on the outside of the city walls. A number of phases of archaeological evaluations conducted in 2005 had indicated that whilst some impact had occurred during the construction of the Shippams buildings, notably two large basements on the factory site, large parts of the area under development contained well preserved archaeology dating to the Roman, Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods. Following the demolition of the Shippams buildings during the autumn and winter of 2005 (pictured below), the archaeological excavation commenced in January 2006.

Demolition of the Shippams buildings

The PCA Excavation Team!

During the evaluation of the factory evidence for a Roman east west aligned street, running parallel with East Street and located centrally to the site was found. This street was encountered a number of times during the excavation with the largest stretch exposed during the final phase of work.

A Roman street

Whilst evidence for the masonry buildings and tessellated floors seen elsewhere in Chichester was notably lacking plentiful evidence, such as postholes, beam slots, brickearth floor slabs, gravel surfaces, ritual foundation deposits (including large quantities of neonates)(pictured below), wells , countless pits and numerous ovens and hearths, was found of the multiple phases of timber buildings that had once fronted the street.

A neonate being excavated	A neonate

A Roman foundation deposit

A Roman hearth

A Roman oven	Archaeomagnetic dating of a Roman oven

In addition vast quantities of cultural material were retrieved including brooches, hundreds of coins, cosmetic tools, a metal workers tray (below - left photo) and two late 3rd century coin hoards (below - right photo). The relatively low status of the buildings coupled with the cultural material collected suggests that the northeast quadrant of Chichester, in the vicinity of the Shippams Factory site, was typified by light industry and commerce within a low socio-economic population.

A metalworker's tray undergoing conservation	The late 3rd Century coin hoard!

The location of the Social Club on the outside of the city walls ensured that the archaeological deposits, whilst contemporary, were of an entirely different character to those found on the factory site. Excavation found evidence for a number of phases of defence/boundary ditch construction (pictured below) dating to throughout the Roman period and also discovered that the outer face of the original civitas wall was, somewhat unexpectedly, two metres to the east of the city wall that stands today.

The original civitas wall

Column sampling of civitas ditch	4th Century civitas ditch

Whilst no evidence was found to indicate an Early Saxon presence on site the excavations at Shippams Factory revealed significant quantities of evidence to indicate that this area of the walled settlement was being reused during the Late Saxon period and may have experienced some use during the Middle Saxon period. It has consequently been suggested that the lack of masonry buildings in this area in the Roman period may have ensured that the area was more attractive to redevelopment in the later Saxon periods.

A possible Saxon sunken featured building (SFB)

Abundant evidence was found for the occupation of the site during the early medieval period with the excavation of hundreds of pits and cesspits dating between the 11th and 14th centuries. Lines of cesspits denoted the rear of properties fronting East Street; locations which when compared to historic maps show the property boundaries on site to be the longest within the whole of Chichester (photo - below). Whilst no structural evidence of the buildings that once stood survived in situ, a number of "chimney pots" that once adorned the roofs were retrieved (one below - photo), as was an oven associated with a property, possibly a bakers, fronting onto East Street .

Hundreds of pits and cesspits dating between 11th and 14th centuries

13th Century chimney pots

A Medieval oven

During the post-medieval period, particularly the 18th century onwards, development continued along the East Street Frontage. Very little structural evidence for the buildings remained in situ as a direct consequence of the construction of the Shippams factory foundations along identical property lines, however, numerous soakaways and cellars, many containing fine cultural material assemblages, survived.

Bone brushes and spoon

Along the eastern side of the factory site flint foundations, cellared buildings, wells and dray horse burials associated with the 18th century East Walls Brew house that occupied the eastern part of the site were also excavated.

East walls brew house	The dray horse from the stable block

And finally there were of course the Shippams paste pots!

Shippams paste pots!

Further analysis of the finds and records is on going and in the fullness of time the results from the excavation will be accessible in a PCA monograph.

View our special report on the Shippams Coin hoard by Dr James Gerrard!

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