EDO5370 - Land between 28 and 30 Bell Street, Shaftesbury; desk-based assessment

An archaeological assessment undertaken by AC archaeology in connection with planning application 2/98/00047 for residential development of the site. Various documentary sources were consulted to trace the development of the site from 1615, when no buildings are shown on the site on an engraved copy of a manuscript map of Shaftesbury by William Willis (reproduced in Hutchins (1803)). Upjohn's 1799 plan of Shaftesbury (DCRO D1/KL34) shows a structure which appears to have been demolished by 1817, as a map of the borough (DCRO Photocopy 485) shows only a small outbuilding in the SW corner of the plot, the rest being open ground, and much the same as today. The author concludes that the site is unlikely to have been disturbed by later post-medieval or modern development, and is situated in a part of the town where there is potential for the presence of important archaeological remains, most likely of early post-medieval date, but potentially of any period from the later prehistoric onwards.