Mystery surrounds ancient discovery beneath the floor of a Chichester pub

The Bull Inn in Market Avenue closed down in 2015 and has been gathering dust ever since. But last year plans to redevelop the site and bring it back to its former glory as a pub were given the go-ahead.

Archaeological officer for Chichester District Council, James Kenny, spotted the application and asked for investigations to take place due to the site’s location.

He said: “There was a planning permission to build an extension out the back and when that came it and I looked at it I raised the possibility that there might be the remains of ditches of the city walls surviving underneath. I asked for an investigation to take place to see if anything is there.”

James was delighted when the team came back to say they had found the remains of a ditch that would have been used for defensive reasons, to support the wall as well as making it appear taller.

The walls date from the third century but the archaeologists remain uncertain over who is responsible for the ditch found beneath the pub as it may have been redug several times over the centuries.

Is the wall early Roman, late Roman, Anglo Saxon, Medieval of late Medieval? The archaeology firm hired by the Bull Inn’s new owners are due to provide a report on their findings in the coming months.

James added: “It is fascinating and the remarkable thing about [the walls] is how dramatic they would have been. They are a pale version of what they were.”

He went on to describe a 13.5ft rampart with between 60 and 70 bastions surround the city. Invaders would have been greeted by hundreds of crossbow-wielding Romans and huge ballistas – giant crossbows which could fire huge metal bolts 500m with great accuracy.