EDO7973 - Vearse Farm, Bridport; evaluation 2018

Evaluation of an area on the west side of Bridport proposed for residential development. The evaluation consisted of the machine excavation of 59 trenches 2 metres wide, and 2,775 metres in total. The trenches were positioned to target anomalies and blank areas seen in data from a geophysical survey. Few buried features of archaeological interest were revealed. The majority of linear anomalies seen in geophysical survey were either not present or related to agricultural activity, being boundary ditches and field drains. An area with more clear archaeological interest was found immediately to the east of Vearse Farm, where two pits probably containing human cremated remains of possible Middle Bronze Age date were identified, but not excavated. A small cluster of features nearby were thought likely to be of prehistoric date and included a pit and a posst hole. Finds included a small assemblage of prehistoric worked flint of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date, pottery of Middle Bronze Age date, and pottery of medieval and post-medieval date.