EDO561 - The Vines, Long Street, Sherborne; evaluation Trench 1

AC Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation at The Vines, Long Street during 1991 in advance of the determination of a planning application for the construction of the property 'Fortunes Fold'. The work initially comprised the hand excavation of four 1m square test pits in order to determine the depth of the subsoil and any archaeological deposits. Two trenches were then excavated by machine parallel to the Long Street frontage, one as close as possible to the frontage and the other 8m to the rear, located within existing flower beds so as not to damage formal lawns or paths. The two trenches revealed some evidence for medieval activity, including gullies/ditches that may predate sub-urban expansion along the line of Long Street and may represent field boundaries or drains. An isolated pit was excavated but its function is difficult to ascertain in the absence of associated features. the lack of medieval artefacts within the overlying deposits suggests that there was not intensive occupation within the proposed development area. Trench 1, linking test pits 1 and 2, measured 8m long and initially 1m wide (0.7m wide at the base). It was located close to and parallel with the Long Street frontage. 0.4m of topsoil and 0.5m of subsoil (both containing post-medieval artefacts) overlay natural yellow/orange sandy silt subsoil. Three features were identified, cut into the natural. Cut 26 was a N-S aligned gulley, 0.2m wide and 0.12m deep with a mid-brown sandy clay fill containing no artefacts. Cut 19/21 was an E-W aligned gulley colinear with the southern edge of the trench. Its full extent was not apparent within the trench. Cut 20 was a feature of uncertain shape, date and function adjacent to cut 19.