SDO11565 - Observation of a Pipe-Trench Along Wareham West Walls

'In August 1963, the Poole and East Dorset Water Board informed the RCHM that they intended to lay a water main along part of the western side of Wareham town walls…the commission arranged to watch the operations, which took place in early November 1963.' The main was 2.5-3ft wide and ran almost parallel and close to the foot of the western rampart from a point 300ft NW of Westport (SY92038734) to the extremem NW corner of the town (SY91908760), a distance of 300 yards. The rampart had been scarped on this side as an anti-tank defence during WWII and so the trench did not expose the inner edge of the burh ditch. No finds were made other than recent pottery in the topsoil. Two features were observed in the trench section: a) a ditch running approximately at right angle to the trench and so under the rampart. The ditch was 28ft wide at the top, 20ft wide at the base and 4-5ft deep, filled with homogeneous red-brown soil. This ditch was located 220 yards NW of Westport. B) a ditch or pit was observed 13ft NW of a). It was 6ft wide at the top, 5ft deep with a rounded base.'