EDO5678 - New Sports Hall, Carter Sports and Community College, Blandford Close, Hamworthy, Poole: desk-based assessment 2003

Terrain Archaeology undertook a desk-based assessment of the area of a proposed new sports hall at Carter Sports and Community College, Hamworthy, in January 2003. The assessment concluded that the site lies on the northern side of the Roman road from Hamworthy to the legionary fortress at Lake Farm. The projected course of the road runs approximately 80 m to the south of the location of the proposed sports hall, however, it must be borne in mind that the precise course is not known with certainty. The site also lies on the edge of the medieval settlement of Hamworthy. The manor house, now the Old Rectory, lies immediately to the south of the site and the site of the medieval chapel is supposed to be close by. There is no recorded evidence for medieval activity on the site, but the probability of finding medieval features is likely to be fairly high. In the post-medieval period, the site was open agricultural land until the school was constructed in the 1940s. In summary, the archaeological resource is likely to relate to the Roman road and any roadside activity and to the medieval settlement. The Roman road is considered to be of regional archaeological significance and the medieval features of local archaeological significance. The potential archaeological resource is likely to be well-preserved on site. The proposed development would disturb any surviving archaeological resource on the site. It is considered that a programme of archaeological observations and recording during redevelopment would be the most appropriate archaeological mitigation strategy.