EDO5522 - Replacement Water Main, Winterborne Whitechurch; observations and recording 2003

Terrain Archaeology carried out a watching brief during the construction of a water replacement main. Groundworks consisted of topsoil stripping of a 10m wide easement running along the side of the A354. A pipe trench was dug inside the easement measuring 0.9m wide and 1.1m deep. Inside the easement were three already existing service trenches, water, gas and telecommunications, meaning that areas of undisturbed ground between these prior works, was relatively limited in places. Within the easement corridor, topsoil was mechanically stripped by a 13 ton tracked excavator with a toothless bucket. The length of the easement totalled 1.7km. The pipe trench was then dug using a toothed bucket 0.5m wide. The average dimensions of this trench were 0.70m by a depth of 1.10m. No archaeological features were observed during the removal of topsoil, and as such the rest of the works were not observed. Sixteen pieces of worked flint were obtained during the brief, and consisted of 9 flakes, 3 broken flakes, 2 cores and 2 scrapers. However no particular concentrations were identified. A single sherd of 19th century Verwood pottery and a sherd of 20th century glass were also recovered. No archaeological remains were encountered by the pipeline, though this is likely due to the previously disturbed ground the development was taking place on.