SDO10064 - The Poundbury Pipeline. Archaeological Observations and Excavations, 1986

The construction of a water-main by the Wessex Water Authority from Burton to its headquarters at Wessex Road, Dorchester, provided the opportunity for archaeological observations and excavations along the line. The pipe-line crosses the Frome Valley, then cuts west and south through the Grove Trading and Poundbury Industrial estates, passing through areas where previous archaeological work by Mr. C. J. S. Green between 1964 and 1980 had demonstrated a complex sequence of archaeological remains of national and international importance to exist. The Roman aqueduct was not present in the excavated trench. Since the aqueduct is known to be 2 metres wide and over 1 metre deep it is unlikely that it could have been removed here by ploughing in medieval and post-medieval times. Further out from Dorchester at places where heavy ploughing has taken place in the twentieth century (such as at Giles Gross) the buried channel remains and appears as soil mark, crop mark or parch mark at appropriate times. It follows that assumptions about the line of the aqueduct at Shields Bottom are wrong. Observations were made by the author and evening class members as the pipeline trench was cut southwards towards the Bridport Road. The route taken included a right-angled turn to the west at the verge of the allotments, and a further right-angled turn to resume the southwards course when it reached Poundbury Crescent. A clear view was obtained of the subsoil for a further 12 metres south from this second turning point, but nothing was seen to suggest that the aqueduct was ever present. Therefore, either the aquaduct was a suprising distance south of the assumed line, or it was to the north and had been cut away by the industrial estate. That it should be further south is still possible, as at least a metre of mixed chalk and soil has been dumped on the allotment site since World War II, and the gardeners may not realise that their true topsoil is buried way below their feet. This may have had the effect of filling in a slight hollow, which originally caused the aqueduct to swing slightly south at this point. If the aqueduct runs to the north, there is no way of recovering its route in this area because of the cutting of the terrace for the industrial estate and/or the wartime camp. If the aqueduct runs to the north, there is no way of recovering its route in this area because of the cutting of the terrace for industrial estate and/or the wartime camp. Further surveying will be done in the summer of 1986 to attempt to settle this question, as part of the research programme on the aqueduct. It remains to ask what it is that is shown as a terrace 12m south on the OS plan of 1928. The answer is either the last trace of the aqueduct on what is, on present evidence, a seemingly impossible line, or a medieval or post medieval lynchet. Further research may clarify this, but for the moment it remains uncertain. It should be noted that the 1928 OS plan shows merely a lynchet, not the channel it might be expected to show had the aqueduct been at all clear at that time.