EDO3836 - Damers First School, proposed new site, Poundbury, Dorchester; evaluation 2005

An archaeological evaluation was carried out by AC archaeology in August 2005 on two proposed sites for the construction of a new Damers First School. The investigations comprised the machine-excavation of five trenches on the existing Damers First School site and eight trenches on a proposed site immediately west of Poundbury Cemetery (1). This work followed an earlier geophysical survey of both sites which identified a number of subsurface magnetic anomalies indicating the presence of archaeological activity (2) The investigations comprised the machine-excavation of five trenches on the existing Damers First School site and eight trenches on a proposed site immediately west of Poundbury Cemetery. The eight trenches on the proposed new site west of Poundbury Cemetery (trenches 6-13) totalled 165m in length, each 1.6m wide. Topsoil and overburden were removed by mechanical excavator. Machining ceased on top of natural subsoil, or intact archaeological deposits. Only four of the eight trenches revealed evidence for archaeological activity, all of which corresponded with anomalies identified on the geophysical survey and interpreted by the geophysical surveyors as possibly modern. Excavation, however, revealed a Bronze Age ditch (in trenches 9 & 13) and a possible prehistoric quarry pit (in Trench 11) and a possible Romano-British quarry pit (in Trench 8).