EDO4221 - Middle Farm, Bridport Road, Dorchester; excavation (Trench 1)

An excavation was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in advance of development by the Duchy of Cornwall. The excavation followed a two-stage trial trenching and fieldwalking evaluation, which had identified a Bronze Age field system. It comprised the excavation of four trenches each approximately 100m x 50m in area, which revealed not only elements of the Bronze Age field system, but associated Late Bronze Age round houses, a series of early and late Neolithic pits, and some Iron Age/Roman marl pits (1) (2). Trench 1, located in the SE corner of the site, contained a major E-W aligned ditch which was a major component of the Bronze Age field system and contained Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery in its fills. Four further ditches within Trench 1 were much smaller and tended to be either parallel or perpendicular to this ditch, probably marking a series of smaller fields or enclosures. This field system continued into Trench 2 to the west. A cluster of six Middle Bronze Age pits were found within this field system. At the northern end of the trench was a Late Iron Age-Early RB marl pit. A palaeolithic flint handaxe was found in a patch of clay-with-flints in this trench.