Monument record MDO18179 - Maiden Castle First School (Prince of Wales First School): pre-enclosure activity

A small number of features were found during the 1993 excavations on the Maiden Castle Road School site, which appear to be stratigraphically earlier than the Iron Age enclosure 1 found on the site. These features included three pits, a gully and a probable quarry. Most of these features were not excavated and their precise date is not known.

The archaeological excavations by AC archaeology undertaken on the Maiden Castle First School site (now the Prince of Wales First School) in 1993 revealed a number of features which are stratigraphically earlier than the Iron Age enclosure 1 exposed on the site. These features comprised a number of pits, a gully and a group of intercutting features within and just to the south of the area of the enclosure. Most of these features were not excavated and only recorded in plan, so no dating evidence is available and their precise character remains unclear.

Pit 500 was a circular pit with a clay lining which was cut by the southern ditch of the trackway which pre-dated Enclosure 1. It was not excavated and no finds were recovered. Pits 507 and 508 lay just inside the southern edge of the area of Enclosure 1 and pit 507 was cut by the enclosure ditch. Both pits were circular and neither was excavated.

Beneath the SW corner of the ditch of Enclosure 1 was a group of intercutting pits [505]. Only one of the peripheral pits was sectioned and this proved to be a very shallow feature. This area may be a quarry.

A single gully 506 aligned N-S was found cut by the southern side of Enclosure 1. This was not excavated.

AC Archaeology, 1992, Maiden Castle Road First School (Excavation archive). SDO9666.

Bellamy, P S , Graham, A , and Richards, J, 1993, Dorchester First School, Interim Report on Archaeological Excavations on the Site of the Maiden Castle Road First School, Dorchester, Dorset., 152 (Article in serial). SDO9480.

Graham A H, 1993, Summary Report on Archaeological Excavations on the site of the Maiden Castle Road First School, Dorchester, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO9479.

Record last edited

Jul 10 2006 9:28AM