Excavations at Upper Borough Walls, Bath, 1980

Abstract

EXCAVATIONS took place on the northern city walls of Bath adjacent to the site of the North Gate. A 2nd-century rampart was later cut back to receive a perimeter wall, fronted by a newly-metalled berm. A wide ditch beyond this was probably of 4th-century date. The Roman wall survived into the late Saxon period when outworks were constructed on the revetted lip of the re-cut ditch. These outworks were rebuilt, probably in stone, at some time during the late Saxon or Norman periods. Of approximately the same period was a massive ditch re-cut, in which the stagnant water deposits of late medieval ‘Frogmere’ were to accumulate. The outworks were demolished in the 13th century but their alignment survived in the positions of boundary ditches.A chronology is argued from stratigraphic, ceramic and documentary evidence. Reconstructions of the defences are attempted in plan and profile leading to a general discussion of the boundary and defensive aspects of the walled circuit.