EDO3858 - 2 Linden Avenue, Evaluation Trench 5

Terrain Archaeology carried out an evaluation in the garden of 2 Linden Avenue, Dorchester in February 2004. Four small engineering test pits in the northern part of the garden were cleaned and recorded (trenches 1, 4, 5, & 6) and a further two machine-trenches were excavated in the southern part of the site (trenches 2 & 3). Across the site overlying the natural chalk, was a layer of garden soil representing the earlier garden prior to the construction of the present house in the 1960s. Over this were levelling layers of construction debris and soil, part of the landscaping for the present garden. Two pits filled with builder’s debris were found in the northwest part of the site. Trench 4 measured 2m x 1m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.9m in the N part of the garden. The top of the natural chalk lay at a depth of 0.75m (63.4m above OD). Garden soils overlay the chalk and these were cut by a vertically-sided pit of recent origin.