EDO4110 - Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester; evaluation (Trench G)

Wessex Archaeology carried out an evaluation of a Site proposed for housing development in November 1984. The development area lies on a gentle ridge between the Roman Town of Durnovaria and Mt. Pleasant, 1km SE of the Roman Town, on the south side of Alington Avenue, east of Fordington Farm. A total of nine evaluation trenches were excavated down to chalk bedrock with a 2m toothless bucket. The total area excavated was 800 square metres spread evenly across the 3.46 ha. field. Trench G , sited at the west end of the site and aligned approximately N-S, showed a series of ancient field terraces in section. Below this terrace erosion was a single most interseting feature; a ditch, 2m wide, 1.5m deep, with near vertical sides, containing a trussed inhumation. Worked flint debitage, perhaps from as few as four cores, and one hammerstone were recovered from the fill, no tools or retouched flakes were present. This all suggests a neolithic date for the ditch, and an association with ritual activity.