EDO4907 - Land Adjacent to Millhams Street, Christchurch; evaluation (Trench 2)

AC Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation in advance of residential development of land adjacent to Millhams Street, Christchurch, Dorset during June 1999. The site is located on the north side of Christchurch High Street and lies within the defensive circuit of the Saxon burh. The evaluation comprised the machine excavation of three trenches. The positions of Trenches 1 and 2 was designed to assess areas of the site to be directly affected by new buildings, while Trench 3 was located close to the presumed alignment of the Saxon and medieval defensive circuit. Each trench was approximately 1m wide. The modern and post-medieval layers were removed by machine on to the top of the natural alluvial deposits. Trench 2 was aligned approximately E-W, was 10.5m long, and was excavated to a depth of 0.6m. This trench contained an extensive area of dark greyish-brown soils at the eastern end. An exploratory slot through these soils revealed tow probable pits, a narrow gully and a posthole. However, the indistinct nature of their fills precluded the establishment of a stratigrphic sequence for this area. A clearly defined N-S aligned ditch [F211] was recorded c. 1m to the west of these features, 900mm wide and 500mm deep with steeply sloping sides and rounded base.