EDO6365 - Sandford Heath, Wareham St Martin; excavation 2011

Small-scale excavation as part of the Sandford Heath Heritage Project to investigate a trackway known locally as ‘Roman Road’. A small mechanical excavator was used to clear a strip 17.5m by 2m oriented south-east to north-west and crossing the trackway, a series of four banks and ditches north of the track, and an area of adjacent heathland. A 1m by 17.5m trench was excavated by hand, exposing banks and ditches as well as a heathland development profile. In addition a bank and ditch on the south side of the track was investigated, as was a standing boundary stone, located near the middle of the track. No evidence was found for a Roman Road either under, or on the north side of the track. The 18th-century road surface could not be identified, which was taken to suggest that this road was not constructed in any way, but was merely a sandy route through the heath. The low banks and ditches north of the road were thought likely to have been formed through preparation of the site for tree planting. A number of pieces of burnt flint and four pieces of worked flint were found. One piece was thought probably to be a late Mesolithic microlith, while the others were broadly Neolithic in date. A stone located slightly to the north of the centre of the track was investigated and identified as a marker between the Holton and Keysworth estates.