EDO3768 - Former Hardye's School, Barnes Way, Dorchester; evaluation 1996

The archaeological field evaluation of former playing fields and land adjacent to Hardye’s School, Dorchester, was conducted by AC archaeology during September and October 1996 in advance of development of the site for housing. 14 trenches were machine excavated, totalling an approximate 2.7% sample of the 7.88 ha of proposed development. The northern part of the site occupies the Alington ridge, which was an important focus within the early prehistoric ceremonial and ritual landscape around Dorchester, as well as containing a number of Bronze Age barrows. Two of these, ‘The Two Barrows’ lie on the northern fringe of the site and have been largely levelled by earlier ploughing and development. A large number of archaeological features were identified in the evaluation; these were mostly field ditches and gullies associated with Romano-British to post-medieval field systems and possible intermittent flanking ditches for medieval field trackways. One of the more significant areas was a large curving ditch identified in two trenches. This is possibly an outer ditch for the westernmost of the ‘Two Barrows’, which would make it comparable in size and complexity to its neighbour, where excavation revealed four phases of construction. The second area was a small Romano-British rectangular enclosure which was fully revealed in plan and a number of sections were excavated through the profile. The feature may have been used as an animal enclosure or pen. Very few artefacts were recovered from the evaluation and there was much truncation of features, largely as a result of medieval and post-medieval ploughing. Large parts of the site appear to have low potential for providing additional information, although further significant archaeological information may be obtained during redevelopment in the area adjacent to the western barrow.