EDO5083 - Land adjacent to the former Fosters School, Tinneys Lane, Sherborne; evaluation trench 4

AC Archaeology conducted an archaeological desk based assessment and evaluation during 1995 of land adjacent to the former Foster’s School, Tinney’s Lane, Sherborne, in advance of proposed development. The work comprised the examination of existing archaeological, cartographic and documentary sources, geophysical survey and the excavation of 10 trenches with a total length of 568m and 1.6m wide. The trenches were located according to the results of the geophysical survey. Evidence for extensive ridge and furrow was revealed, representing part of the Newland medieval open fields. Evidence for former field boundaries, probably of post-medieval date, was also revealed. A number of other geophysical anomalies were shown by subsequent excavation to be features and layers dating from the Neolithic period with some containing Peterborough Ware. Several pits were shown to be Bronze Age in date and possibly funerary in nature as suggested by the presence of cremated bone. This evidence suggests the presence of a significant Neolithic settlement. Trench 4 measured 80m x 1.60m and was oriented approximately E-S downslope. 0.20m of topsoil overlay 0.12m of dark brown silty clay subsoil. Several subsoil features were identified towards the centre of the trench. [F8] was an E-W aligned shallow linear feature containing 2 fragments of probably neolithic pottery. [F21] was a roughly circular small pit or post-hole containing 1 piece of worked flint and animal bone. [F18] was an irregular feature containing 10 sherds of neolithic pottery including Peterborough ware and animal bone. [F10] was a shallow feature containing 33 sherds of probable early neolithic pottery. [F24] was an unexcavated circular feature of probable prehistoric date. [F35] was an E-W aligned earth bank. Small quantities of glass, clay pipe and post-medieval pottery were recovered from the spoil heap following machining through this bank (1).