EDO5190 - Land to the Rear of Clarendon Road, Christchurch; evaluation Trench 5

Wessex Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation of land immediately north of Christchurch Railway Station during 2006 in advance of re-development of the site. Nine trenches were excavated, eight of which contained only modern features or none at all. Trench 5 contained an isolated undated shallow pit containing no finds within its fill. A raised terrace along the northern edge of the site and land at the western end of the site remain largely undisturbed. These areas have been further protected by the dumping of c. 0.5m of topsoil. However, the lack of finds identified during this evaluation suggests that the liklehood of archaeological remains existing here is low. The lower part of the site has been truncated onto or below the natural gravels. Trench 5 was aligned NNW-SSE, 7.5m long, 3.6m wide and excavated to a maximum depth of 1.25m. 0.43m of redeposited topsoil overlay the in situ topsoil/ ploughsoil, which extended to a depth of 0.70m. This overlay subsoil. Natural gravel was encountered at a depth of 1.23m. A single undated pit [505], circular in plan with moderately sloping sides and concave base was cut into the natural gravel and sealed by the subsoil. The pit was approximately 0.4m deep and 1.1m wide at the top. The upper fill contained flecks of charcoal but neither the upper or lower fills contained any artefacts