Storm Revealed 17th-Century Seawall in Southern England

News January 25, 2021

(Wessex Archaeology)
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England Portsmouth Seawall
(Wessex Archaeology)

PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND—A wall and a slipway for launching boats into the water were revealed last month during a storm off England’s southeastern coast, according to a report in The News. Alex Godden of Wessex Archaeology said that mortar from the structure has been dated to the late seventeenth century, when the defenses for the city of Portsmouth were redesigned. “The possible slipway may have originally flanked a series of steps to allow access from the defenses on to the beach, while the wall’s irregular construction indicates that it was never meant to be seen, unlike the actual defenses themselves,” he explained. The plans for a new seawall will be altered to preserve the remains of the historic structure. To read about the shipwrecks of Mary Rose and Vasa, which were raised for display in Portsmouth, go to “History’s 10 Greatest Wrecks…

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