EDO5345 - Mercury House, Red Lion Yard, Market Place, Blandford Forum; observations and recording 2003 to 2005

ASI Heritage Consultants conducted an archaeological watching brief during groundworks for the extension of former stables known as Mercury House in Red Lion Yard, Market Place, Blandford. The footings were excavated by hand over a period from November 2003 to June 2005. They revealed 19th and 20th century yard surfaces above chalk surfaces which extended under the enclosure walls of the yard. Undisturbed soils lay below. This suggests that archaeological deposits predating the 1731 great fire of Blandford survive beneath the present pattern of burgage plots.