TWINHAM

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Early Medieval burh of Christchurch and Medieval town walls. Levelled during the 13th/14th century

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(Area centred SZ 158927) Christchurch was known in the
Anglo-Saxon and early Norman period as Twinham. It was one of the
burhs listed in the "Burghal Hidage", and defended originally by
a bank and ditch. Excavations have shown that a stone wall was added
at a later date. The defences were levelled in the 13th and 14th
centuries.

Twinham was probably a port of some strategic importance, but it
never acquired much economic importance, and there is no evidence
that it ever had a mint or a moneyer in the 10th century. (1-4)

(For town gates, see SZ 19 SE 57.1 57.2.
For early Saxon cemetery, see SZ 19 SE 50).

SZ 157928. Site of town walls in and east of Druitt Gardens -
Scheduled. (5)

The burh defences were excavated at a number of points during the 1970s and 1981-3, revealing distinct differences between those on the Northern, Eastern and Western sides of the town.

The Northern defences.
An early C10th burh 8.0-9.0 m wide extended the length of the Northern perimeter and at least in part comprised
natural sand bar material in the vicinity of site W6 and X10. A berm 4m wide lay in front of this, and a ditch 2m deep fronted the berm. In the 10th or 11th century a stone revetment was added to the inner face of the bank, and a second ditch placed 10m beyond the bank. There were at least six ditch phases, but all had been filled by the 12th/13th century.

(See sites X1, X2, X15, X13, X10 of Auth 1, and sites W5, W6, W23 and W37 of Auth 2).

Eastern defences.
Parallel shallow gullies delineated the burh in the late 9th or early 10th century. The defences then follow the same pattern as those on the north side except a single external ditch was recut once and the revetment is external to the burh. (Site X9, W10).

Western defences.
These consisted of a reveted burh and ditch. (Site X5, X7). (See illustration card 1 for location). (6-7)

Further excavation at 14 High St (Northern defences) in 1982 revealed a 25m length of the Saxon burh ditch which was cut originally c. 900 AD, and was open for almost one hundred years, and purposely backfilled (site W37). (7)

A watching brief at the King's Arms Hotel (SZ 15999273) located the burh, berm and ditch of the Eastern defences. (8) (See also SZ 19 SE 100)

The fortification can be assumed on archaeological and documentary grounds to have existed from the reign of Alfred the Great and was a `major borough'. Twinham was assessed at 470 hides, equivalent to 1939 feet of defences.(9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) General reference

Hist Towns in Dorset 1980 (Dorset NH and AS Monograph 1) 39-44 maps (K J Penn)

( 2) General reference

Arch AS Eng 1976 (ed D M Wilson) 125 126 128

( 3) General reference

P Dorset NH and AS 96 1974 67 (G Dowdell)

( 4) General reference

DOE Arch Excavs 1976 115 (K Jarvis)

( 5) General reference

DOE (IAM) List Anc Mons 2 1978 83

( 6) General reference

Jarvis KS 1983. Excavations in Christchurch 1969-80. Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc Monongraph 5 18-19, 22-7, 31-2, 49-52 Illus 46-53.

( 7) General reference

Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc 105 1983 23-33, Illus (Davis SM)

( 8) General reference

Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc 107 1985 168-90 Illus (Jarvis K)

(9) General reference

Hill D and Rumbold A 1996 The Defence of Wessex 108-9

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Medieval defensive town ditch excavated in 1983, which fell into disuse during the 12th to 13th century.

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Early Medieval defensive ditch predating the major circuit of the burh, running externally and parallel to it at a distance of 9.0 metres.

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