Wolstenholme Towne

A palisaded colonial settlement that is part of the tract of land on the James River, Virginia, that includes Jamestown and Williamsburg - Martin's Hundred. It is the earliest palisaded settlement found in North America, dating to 1619. Artifact assemblages have many European imports and a variety of local pottery. The settlement was attacked by Native Americans in 1622 and there is evidence of a massacre.

Thought to be the earliest palisaded colonial settlement yet uncovered in North America, Wolstenholme Towne was built on the pattern of similar structures in Ulster, Northern Ireland. Roughly 200 Britons established the colony in 1619 on the James River, 16 km east of Jamestown. Under the direction of Ivor Noel-Hume, archaeological testing and excavation was begun in 1970 and continued for several years. Artefact assemblages indicated a heavy reliance on European imports, but a variety of locally made pottery was found (although a kiln was not). A rare find of closed helmets from 16th-century armour were recovered and restored after an intense in situ conservation effort. Charred remains and evidence of the hasty, unceremonious burial of a person whose skull had been split indicate the end of Wolstenholme Towne at the time of a general native uprising in 1622.