EDO4067 - Proposed Sports Centre and Cemetery, Poundbury, Dorchester; Evaluation Trench 30

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 30 measured 30m by 1.6m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.65m. It was aligned N-S, close to the northernboundary of the site. It contained a substantial ditch at its north end, aligned slightly to the north of E-W, but probably curvilinear. It measured 1.6m wide and was excavated to a depth of 0.9m but not bottomed (0.5-0.7m of fill remained). Early to Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered from its upper fill and it is interpreted as the southern portion of a Bronze Age enclosure ditch also recorded in Trench 31. A shallow post-hole (0.3m diameter, 0.1m deep) containing Middle bronze Age pottery was located 5m south of the enclosure ditch.