Monument record MDO18642 - Dorchester Middle School; prehistoric ditch?

A single linear anomaly running NNE-SSW was found by Oxford Archaeotechnics during a geophysical survey of the Dorchester Middle School playing field, Coburg Road, Dorchester in 1997. This anomaly was interpreted as a possible prehistoric ditch and appears to be a continuation of an Iron Age track way ditch, investigated on a number of sites to the southwest, at Thomas Hardye School and Maiden Castle Road School.

A single linear anomaly running NNE-SSW was found by Oxford Archaeotechnics during a geophysical survey of the Dorchester Middle School playing field, Coburg Road, Dorchester in 1997 (1). This anomaly was interpreted as a possible prehistoric ditch. It appears to be the continuation of an Iron Age ditch, which forms part of a trackway, excavated at Maiden Castle School in 1993 (2) and was also excavated at Thomas Hardye School in 1994 (3).

<1> Oxford Archaeotechnics, 1997, Dorchester Middle School, Queen’s Avenue, Dorchester, Dorset: Magnetometer (gradiometer) survey (Unpublished document). SDO9447.

<2> 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. (Article in serial). SDO9480.

<3> Smith, R J C, 2000, Excavation of Neolithic and Bronze Age features at the Thomas Hardye (formerly Castlefield) School, Coburg Road, Dorchester, 1994. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 78 (Article in serial). SDO9621.

Record last edited

Jan 22 2007 4:57AM