EDO4091 - Poundbury Community Woodland, Maiden Castle Road, Dorchester; evaluation (Trench 3)

In October 1998 Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological field evaluation of land north of Maiden Castle Road, Dorchester, Dorset, in advance of the proposed planting of community woodland. Four machine-dug trenches totalling 245 square metres were excavated. The trenches were sited to cross possible archaeological features recorded as soil marks on aerial photographs. Trench 3 was aligned NE-SW near the centre of the site. It measured 25m long and 1.6m wide. Two ditches were recorded in the NE of the trench, which was extended by 3m to fully reveal both. Ditch [306] was E-W aligned, flat bottomed, 2.5m wide and 0.4m deep. Ditch [302] was aligned N-S with a 'U' shaped profile, 0.2m wide and 0.15m deep. No finds were recovered from either of their fills. Ditch [306] corresponded to a cropmark, which could be traced to the west and had been excavated along the route of the A35 Dorchester By-pass. There it comprised part of a Romano-British ditched trackway suggesting a similar date for [306] and [302] which was cut by [306].