Archaeology of Chews Lane

Archaeology of Chews Lane, Wellington, NZ

               "It is impossible to describe one's feelings in such a moment – the earth trembling beneath your feet – everything in  
               the house tossed to and fro, books shelves and books falling, rafters and roof creaking, chimneys falling, wall rent 
               and split all in a few seconds." ~ Frederick Trolove on the 1855 earthquake  (Grapes 2000:3)

“Chews Lane” refers to the street and area around it being redeveloped by Willis Street Holdings, Ltd. In 2006, before development commenced, an archaeological and relevant historical assessment were carried out. The NZ Historic Places Trust granted permission in September to modify the existing archaeological assessment beyond the monitoring of demolition after “a brick foundation of unknown age was exposed on the Victoria Street end of the development site" (Clough and McFadgen 2009:3).

Timeline:

1848, Marlborough Earthquake

1852, Sir George Grey's reclamation (Willis St. south of Chews Ln.)

1855, Wairarapa Fault ruptures, creating an earthquake of magnitude 8+ [1] and giving Charles Lyell "direct evidence of the relationship between earthquakes, fault rupturing, regional uplift and subsidence" (Downes and Grapes 2010:1). To view a short documentary about the fault and some striking scenery, click here [2]

1857-1863, “Carter’s Reclamation” (refers to the contractor responsible for rebuilding the area north of Chews Lane; the majority of excavations came from this area)

1886, Reclamation by the Wellington City Council (E of Victoria St.), harbor adjacent to the area is filled in

19th c. Occupation in Brief: Chews Lane runs perpendicular to Willis and Victoria Streets.[3] During and after the various reclamations, “the Willis Street side...came to be characterized by a variety of retail and commercial activities ranging from tobacconists, tailors, hairdressers, booksellers and grocers, etc," while "the Victoria Street side...was dominated by warehouses, importers and wholesalers” (Clough and McFadgen 2009:15).

The Dig Itself: The dig itself consisted of two parts: the supervising of the demolition of buildings to the North of Chews Lane and the excavation of trenches and pile holes where new foundations were drilled. The modern buildings required digging new foundations deeper than the 19th century originals. Piles holes (and occasionally trenches) went as far as the underlying seabed, unearthing cultural strata, which gave “an unusual insight into one of the probable effects of the 1855 earthquake on local Wellington households and businesses.” (Clough and McFadgen 2009:24) Excavation consisted of using trench diggers, sampling and sieving the fill from different strata. Height was recorded in relation to sea level, using the present mean sea level as the level datum (Clough and McFadgen 2009:26).

Two Main Areas of Interest:

Corner of Willis St. and Chews Ln.[4]: Trenches revealed that this was part of the shoreline before the 1855 earthquake, the second quake having lifted the shoreline. One layer of gravel beach had mostly marine shells; the layer of gravel sand had three loose layers with “cultural remains” dating to the reclamation of Sir Grey George in 1852 and then to Carter in 1857. The items found in the fills, including broken glass and china (the highest concentration of the entire site) of different types, animal bones, bits of brick, etc., suggest that the reclamation fill was made from the multitude of broken objects dumped by the town’s residents in an effort to clean up after the quake and probably included waste from the ruptured drains. Specifically, willow china patterns in particular had the highest frequency, with 60% of the pattern being blue (Clough and McFadgen 2009:39). Cargo advertisements and first hand accounts from the period testify to this pattern's popularity as domestic ware, strengthening the excavators' hypothesis.

Northern Boundary: Two concrete blocks, one on top of the other, embedded in the pre-1855 seabed may be evidence of the earliest example of the use of concrete in Wellington, possibly as part of a jetty.

References:

Clough, Rod and Bruce McFadgen. 2009 Foreshock-Aftershock: The Archaeology of Chews Lane, Wellington. Auckland: Clough & Associates Ltd.

Downes, Gaye L. and Rodney H. Grapes 2010 Charles Lyell and the Great 1855 Earthquake in New Zealand: First recognition of active fault tectonics. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 167(1):35-47

Grapes, Rodney 2000 Marlborough: Just Over One Hundred and Fifty Years of Earthquakes. Nelson Historial Society Journal 6(3)3-33.