EDO8258 - Proposed Dairy Extension, Holditch Court Farm, Thorncombe; area strip and record 2025

All work was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (Boyd 2025), and in line with Dorset Council standards and guidance for archaeological investigations. An area measuring 30m by 33m was stripped to the top of a natural undisturbed ground layer by a large, tracked machine with toothless grading bucket under archaeological supervision, revealing topsoil directly overlying the natural, a firm reddish-grey clay. A water pipe trench 0.7m wide was exposed to the south of the stripped area. No other archaeological features were noted, although to the south of the site, where the topsoil was shallower, several irregular and shallow slightly loose variations in the natural, may have reflected the former presence of tree cover over this part of the site. The monitoring works did not encounter any significant archaeological deposits or finds.