Monument record MDO2386 - The Vines, Long Street, Sherborne; medieval ditches

Evidence for medieval gullies/ditches was revealed during an evaluation at The Vines, Long Street in September 1991. The ditches may predate suburban expansion along the line of Long Street and are perhaps field boundaries or drains.

AC Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation at The Vines, Long Street during 1991 in advance of the determination of a planning application for redevelopment. Two trenches were excavated by machine parallel to the Long Street frontage.

The trenches revealed some evidence for medieval activity, including gullies/ditches that may predate sub-urban expansion along the line of Long Street and may represent field boundaries or drains. One edge of an approximately ENE-WSW aligned ditch [19/21] was revealed parallel to and c. 12m south of Long Street. This contained a single sherd of 12th-13th century pottery and animal bone. Two further ditches [14] & [29] were excavated in Trench 2, aligned perpendicular to [19/21]. Ditch [29] was 0.6-0.7m wide, 0.3m deep with a fill containing four sherds of medieval pottery and animal bone. Ditch [14] was a maximum of 0.4m wide and 0.2m deep with a fill containing three sherds of medieval pottery and animal bone. A further small gully [26] in Trench 1 measured 0.2m wide and 0.12m deep but contained no artefacts (1).

These ditches and gullies conform to a predominant field alignment in the Sherborne area. These alignments were probably first utilised in the late prehistoric period and still dominate in the present day. The Vines ditches may predate sub-urban expansion along the line of Long Street.

The lack of medieval artefacts within the overlying deposits suggests that there was not intensive occupation within the proposed development area.

<1> Richards, J, 1991, The Vines, Long Street, Sherborne. Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO215.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1992, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1991, 181 (Serial). SDO91.

‘THE VINES, LONG STREET, SHERBORNE. Evaluation of a single vacant plot on the street frontage of Long Street (ST64271667) was carried out by means of two machine-excavated trenches, totalling c. 20 m in length. Removal of a deep humic garden soil revealed a small number of shallow gullies and ditches dating from the 12th/13th centuries onwards. These appear to pre-date any urban expansion along the line of Long Street and may represent either field boundaries or drainage features.’

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:09PM