EDO8005 - Highmoor Farm, Purchase Way, Poole; evaluation 2023

Archaeological evaluation of a 11.7 ha parcel of land located off Purchase Way, and consisting of thirty two trial trenches. Twelve of the excavated trial trenches contained archaeological features and deposits, demonstrating that archaeology survives across the site. The features and topsoil finds were concentrated in the northern fields of the site, with only a few features and finds uncovered in the south. A total of ten ditches, four pits, three furrows and an area of burning were investigated. Only ditch 1706 contained finds, a likely residual broken flint flake. All other finds were recovered from the topsoil and comprised of worked flint ranging in date from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, indicating prehistoric activity in the vicinity. No features of certain prehistoric date were revealed, such features may have been heavily disturbed by the same agricultural activity that distributed and damaged the flint assemblage. The acidity of the natural geology may also have affected the preservation of archaeological remains, such as pottery and bone. The rectilinear anomaly targeted by trench 14 was uncovered during the evaluation, however it did not appear within trench 15. The trend which extended north of the rectilinear enclosure was possibly investigated within trench 12. No finds were recovered from these features, so it is not possible to suggest a date for the enclosure. Trenches 13, 15, 16, 19, 28–30, 34 and 36 targeted geophysical anomalies that were not observed during this evaluation. Most were labelled as ‘uncertain trend’, but trenches 13 and 15 were targeting more certain anomalies. Many of the pits contained dumped deposits of charcoal and burnt material that indicated some sort of small-scale industrial activity. Whilst it is not clear what activity these deposits derive from, the sample taken from pit 1106 suggests charcoal production. Most known charcoal production pits date to the early medieval or medieval periods, pre-13th century.’