EDO5794 - New vicarage, Church Street, Christchurch; excavation 2013

Observations and selective excavation during groundworks for a new vicarage and associated garage and parking area revealed that most of the Church Street frontage was quarried for gravel and/or clay in the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving only a small band of undisturbed gravel running SW-NE across the south-east corner of the site. The quarrying, interpreted as opportunistic, resulted in a series of deep pits, each partly backfiled with upcast from its successor, extending to within 2m of the Church Street frontage. A small assemblage of early medieval pottery suggests activity of this date, disturbed by the later quarrying, in the vicinity. A twelfth-century roof corbel may have been derived from the priory. A small quantity of disarticulated human bones was left in place.