A clear space behind the town walls to enable defenders to form up and move readily to action stations. In Southampton the defences were not planned as a whole. The original east wall was an earthen bank, which survived after the construction of the stone facing in the mid-14th century. Presumably this sloping bank acted as pomerium and demarcated Back-of-the-Walls.
The north wall was early but shows no trace of a pomerium The west and east walls were late 14th century and superimposed upon a developed town. Cuckoo Lane appears to have served as a pomerium and so did the former wharves of the Coleye, (Porters Lane) and Winkle Street. Apparently the castle had no such provision.
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