EDO4063 - Proposed Sports Centre and Cemetery, Poundbury, Dorchester; Evaluation Trench 26

In March 1997 Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological field evaluation of three fields between the Bridport Road and Poundbury Road, Dorchester, proposed for development. Forty machine-excavated trenches, plus additional contingency trenches, were investigated. Trench 26 measured 30m by 1.6m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.45m. It was aligned SE-NW, in the central part of the northern half of the site. It contained a substantial NE-SW aligned ditch (1.2m wide, 0.6m deep), located near to the base of the coombe, with a steep profile and flat base. It is interpreted as the continuation od a ditch observed in trench 25. Struck flint and Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered from its fills. It may form part of an Early-Middle Bronze Age field system.