EDO5680 - Poole Pottery Retail Warehouse, The Quay, Poole: desk-based assessment 2005

Terrain Archaeology undertook a desk-based assessment of the site of the Poole Pottery Retail Warehouse in 2005. A study area of approximately 500 m around the site was defined. The assessement concluded that the site lies on the edge of the medieval town and was possibly not occupied until the 17th century. Before the 16th or 17th century, much of the site is likely to have been tidal mudflats with the northern part of the site being on the shoreline. The precise location of this shoreline is not known. Reclamation of the site possibly began in the 16th century, but the waterfront was not developed until the later 18th century, when a quay appears to have been constructed across part of the area of the site. The line of this quay has been found beneath East Quay Road on the southern boundary of the site. The site was developed during the 18th and 19th centuries with a mixture of housing and warehousing. All of the pre-20th century buildings on the site have been demolished. The only ‘historic’ building is the former Swan Inn, now the Quay Gallery, an earlier 20th century building with a fine glazed tile exterior, which adds character to this area. This tiled fascia should be preserved on site. The archaeological resource is likely to relate primarily to the 18th century reclamation and is considered to be of local archaeological significance. The archaeology is likely to be seriously disturbed in many areas of the site. The proposed development would destroy much of 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, but this is dependent on the precise nature and extent of the proposed groundworks. (1)