EDO5615 - Land at 69 Mount Pleasant Avenue South, Weymouth; evaluation 2010

Terrain Archaeology was commissioned to carry out an archaeological evaluation at 69 Mount Pleasant Avenue South in Weymouth, in advance of determination of full planning consent for its redevelopment. The evaluation consisted of two trial trenches, Trench 1 to the south of the bungalow, and trench 2 to the east of the bungalow. Trench 1 measured 6m by 1.2m, and Trench 2 measured 9m by 1.2m and both gave a sample size of 1.5% of the development area. The trenches were excavated using a tracked 7 tonne mechanical excavator equipped with a 1.2m wide toothless ditching bucket. This continued until the top of undisturbed natural deposits, or to the upper exposure of potential archaeological remains. Trench bottom cleaning was carried out by hand as necessary. Trench 1 was mostly occupied by a quarry pit, lying beyond the eastern edge of the trench. It had a width in excess of 4.5m and contained a small amount of post-medieval and modern pottery in its fill. A terrace was located in Trench 2 comprising of an irregular vertical cut 0.4m into the natural limestone. Its fill contained 19th and 20th century pottery, and 21 pieces of animal bone. A few other finds of 19th/20th century dates were found in the trenches including a single square sectioned iron object, five pottery sherds, two sherds of glass bottle, two pieces of slate and 21 pieces of animal bone.