Monument record MDO37359 - Ditch 11011, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme Evaluation Trench 11

A large ditch, possibly a boundary ditch was found in evaluation trench 11 of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. Medieval pottery was found in the upper part of this ditch. The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

A large ditch (110011), aligned NE-SW, was found in the north western end of evaluation trench 11 of the archaeological evaluation of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. This ditch was 5.2m wide and about 1.5m deep. The upper part was eroded but it had much steeper sides further down. The shape of the base was not recorded. The lower part of the ditch was excavated by machine and the fills have not been recorded. A number of sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from the lowest fills excavated in this ditch (11012, 11013, 1104). This ditch may correspond to the geophysical anomaly 312. [1]

An area positive geophysical anomaly (312) was identified during the geophysical survey along the proposed route of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme and is indicative of a former cut feature which may be of archaeological origin. [2]

The section and photograph in source 1 could suggest that there was another flat-bottomed ditch to the south east, which appears to have been cut by ditch 110011. [P Bellamy, 30-12-2015]

The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

<1> Havard, T and Nicholl, M, 2013, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Transfer Scheme, Wessex Water, Dorset and Wiltshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 11 (Unpublished document). SDO14094.

Ditch 11011 (Fig. 41, Section 7) lay at the north-western extent of Trench 11 and correlated to an anomaly identified by geophysical survey. It had steeply sloped irregular sides, measured 5.2m in width and was excavated by hand to a depth of 0.8m although later mechanical excavation showed it to be cut into the natural substrate to a depth of at least 1.5m with sides becoming steeper lower down. The profile and composition of the three lowest fills exposed by hand excavation, 11012 which was sealed by 11013 which in turn was sealed by 11014, suggest they derived from a combination of erosion of bank material and silting. The latest of these, 11014 was sealed by a darker silty deposit 11016 whose more level profile perhaps indicated the formation of soil in an open ditch. This was partially sealed by two similar deposits 11017 and 11018 whose gravel rich nature may have indicated an attempt at consolidation or infilling. These two deposits were sealed by a deposit 11019, very similar to the overlying topsoil, which had settled into the top of the ditch. The steep sides of ditch 11011 exposed by later mechanical excavation were suggestive of a major boundary ditch. A holloway, clearly visible in the same location on an aerial photograph of 1947 provided by a local landowner may show the partially infilled ditch being re-utilised as a trackway.

<2> Marsh, B and Biggs, M, 2012, Geophysical Survey Report Corfe Mullen to Salisbury WTS, 31 (Unpublished document). SDO14089.

312-318 Several positive area and linear anomalies have been identified and are indicative of former cut features which may be of archaeological origin.

Record last edited

Dec 30 2015 6:11PM