SDO11589 - Wimborne Minster, Dorset - Excavations in the Town Centre 1975-80; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

'The excavations and building trench observations were carried out on a small scale trial and rescue basis. Five areas (1-5) were examined in and around the present town centre. Therse are described and discussed together with a summary of documentary, historical and topographical research into the origins and development of the medieval town. Virtually no material or structural remains could be dated earlier than the 12th century, and none could be used directly to suggest the location of the monastic establishment (before AD 705), or the royal residence (c. AD 900) recorded for Wimborne. Early structural features, sealed below rubbish pits (c. 12th century), were slight and these occurred in the area between the Minster and the Cornmarket (Area 1), but with no diagnostic material remains. A few pieces of residual Romano-British material were found in this area, and on the floodplain of the river next to East Bridge. No early enclosure circuits could be confirmed. A sequence of 12th-century medieval rubbish pits and subsequent buildings were excavated at the south end of East Borough on Market Square (Area 2). Late medieval rubbish and soil-pits were excavated on East Borough. This conformed with topographical and documentary evidence, and together they suggest that this area developed after the 12th century, with East Borough as the back street of a two-street urban development continuing north to Walford Bridge. Excavations and observations between the High Street and the River Allen (Area 3) and on its floodplain (Ara 4) showed no evidence for quays. Excavations and observations close to East Bridge suggest that the area between the present bridges was deliberately built up above the flood plain to facilitate the birdge approaches, and to afford development on East Street, probably a 17th-century development. The area observed to the south of St Catherine's Chapel and to the east of the river (Area 5) contained no diagnostic material or structural data. If Wimborne as an urban centre had been intensively settled for a long period, one might reasonably expect that our recent excavations and observations would show a deeply accumulated stratification. The fact that nowhere deep stratification was found demonstrates that the town cannot have been so well populated as one might have expected. Documentary evidence for the Saxon period, together with the Domesday evidence, suggests a population of over 400, and this shows no substantial structural or material remains until the 12th century. This would appear to be a general trend in other nearby towns known to have been in existence in the Saxon Period; such as Christchurch, Dorchester, Shaftesbury, Sherborne and Wareham.'