EDO5640 - The Old Rectory, Blandford Close, Hamworthy, Poole; evaluation 2004

Terrain Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land adjacent to the Old Rectory, Hamworthy, in advance of a proposed new housing development, in July 2004. This site lies on the projected alignment of the Roman road from Hamworthy to Lake. The evaluation consisted of three machine-excavated trial trenches. Trench 1 to the east of the Old Rectory, across the projected line of the Roman road, measured 31.1m by 1.3m and was dug to a depth of 1.25m. Trench 2 to the south east of the Old Rectory measured 12.9m by 1.3m and down 1m. Trench 3 lay inside the garden of the Old Rectory and measured 4.7m by 1.3m and was dug to a maximum depth of 0.95m. No trace of the Roman road was identified and it is considered that the projected alignment of the road as marked on the Ordnance Survey maps is probably incorrect. Two phases of features were discovered in Trench 1, the earlier features are undated but the later features are all of early 19th century date. The features were mainly small gullies or ditches and pits and the lack of finds makes it difficult to interpret their function, but were not considered to be of great archaeological significance. Overall, the small number of features and the general lack of artefacts suggest that this area was not a focus of activity in the past. Part of the former drive to the Old Rectory was discovered in Trench 2 in the southern end of the site.