Monument record MDO37206 - Medieval rubbish pits, 19 St Martin's Lane, Wareham Town

Three truncated rubbish pits were recording during building of a house. Topsoil overlay a thick reworked medieval soil containing pottery dating from the 10th/11th to at least the late 13th century. Probably originally cutting at least part of this layer were the remains of three small truncated pits of eleventh/twelfth-century date. All three appeared to be broadly domestic in character, containing pottery and animal bone. Two of the pits contained small quantities of smithing slag and hammer scale in two of them. The findings from 19 St Martins Lane support a widely held view that Wareham saw sporadic urban expansion from its Late Saxon core throughout the 11th-13th centuries, before suffering significant economic stagnation and urban contraction after the 13th century.

<1> Trevarthen, M, 2014, 19 St Martins Lane, Wareham, Dorset. Observations and Recording, January 2014. (Unpublished document). SDO14005.

Record last edited

Jun 1 2015 3:06PM