EDO7859 - Wheelers Lane, Canford Magna; evaluation 2021

In September 2021, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an evaluation on land to the west of Wheelers Lane, Canford Magna for RPS Consulting Services ahead of the submission of a planning application for residential development of the site. The evaluation consisted of the excavation of 12 trenches, each proposed to measure 30m by 1.8m. Due to on-site constraints, three trenches were shortened. The trenches were placed to test geophysical anomalies detected in a previous geophysical survey and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. Overburden was stripped from the trenches by a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless grading bucket. All machining was conducted under archaeological supervision to the top of the natural substrate, which was the level at which archaeological features were first encountered. The underlying ‘natural’ geology was encountered 0.23 to 0.72m below the current ground level. The 12 trenches excavated revealed 21 ditch features. Whilst the exact function of the ditches remains unclear, they are likely to relate to land management, drainage or division. A single flint artefact may suggest a prehistoric presence and one ditch, represented within three of the trenches, produced modern material. The majority of the ditches remained undated. The geophysical anomalies previously detected did not necessarily correlate with the archaeological observations.