SDO11583 - Land at rear of 24 West Borough, Wimborne Minster. Archaeological Evaluation

On behalf of Mrs Pook and Mrs Stuart an archaeological evaluation was carried out between 20th and 23rd October 2002 of land to the rear of 24 West Borough, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Three trenches, each measuring 1.50m x 3m, were excavated and recorded. Two trenches (1 and 3) contained only 0.52 - 0.80m thickness of topsoi and horticultural soil of post-medieval and modern date directly overlying natural gravels. Trench 2 contained similar horticultural soil, but it overlay a layer of dumped material. This, in turn, sealed the backfills of two cuts, each of which extended beyond the edges of the trench. One was steep-sided and flat-based, bottoming on the interface between natural sands and gravels and underlying chalk. It is interpreted as either a quarry pit or an abandoned construction cut for a well. The other cut was much shallower and its purpose is unknown. The putative quarry or well contained a prehistoric flint scraper, 13th- to early 14th-century pottery and a piece of post-medieval brick or tile. The fill of the other cut contained (e.g.) post-medieval pottery and pieces of clay pipe. No evidence was recovered to indicate the presence of buildings or settlement on the Site, but three pieces of redeposited worked flint suggest some form of late Neolithic/early Bronze Age activity in the vicinity and the presence of the medieval pottery in Trench 2 supports documentary evidence that a "new borough" comprising the modern streets East and West Borough was established in the early 13th century.