EDO4997 - St George's Road refuse dump, Red Cow Farm, Dorchester

ALD Archaeology undertook the investigation and excavation of an early 20th century refuse tip at Red Cow Farm, St George's Road, Dorchester. Three season's fieldwork were undertaken, the first from 28/3/2004 to 3/4/2004; the second from 26/4/2004 to 1/5/2004; and the third from 29/4/2006 to 5/5/2006. The site was gridded up and the dump carefully excavated by machine, allowing some spatial and stratigraphic information to be recorded. About 75% of the area of the tip was excavated, with further parts of the tip along the riverbank, several strips across the field and the area under and beyond the farm track left intact (1). The dump material was about 1.5m thick at the eastern end and became gradually shallower towards the west. It was used as a refuse tip between May 1912 and November 1914, closing because of a dispute with the farmer. There was some evidence for burning, but very little evidence for scavenging. The main focus of the work was to recover bottles and other glass objects, but a small quantity of pottery was retained and a small quantity of metalwork was noted. The material recovered appears to date from c. 1910-1914, contemporary with the dump, with a small quantity of earlier finds (1) (2) (3).