EDO4165 - Eldridge Pope Brewery Site, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester, Evaluation Trench 1.

Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation on land within the area of the former Eldridge Pope Brewery on the south side of Dorchester. Five machine-dug test pits and two trenches, one 6m and the other 20 m in length, were excavated at various points, according to access, to provide an assessment of deposits across the site and any likely levels of truncation. Trench 1 was located in an area considered to be of high archaeological potential, along the street frontage of the Roman road from Weymouth (Radipole) to Dorchester. The trench measured 6m x 2m. Unfortunately the excavation came down onto a concrete slab, too large to be removed. A smaller 3m x 1m trench was subsequently excavated to the south of it. Below 0.25m of made ground, a dark grey-brown silty clay soil was observed, 0.2m thick, above a natural chalk surface. The soil was truncated by numerous service trenches, although the excavation did demonstrate the potential for surviving soils along the street frontage.