SDO12452 - Land at Grimstone Reservoir, Stratton, Dorset. Results of an Archaeological Evaluation

An archaeological evaluation, commissioned by Wessex Water, was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology on land at Grimstone Reservoir, Stratton, Dorset (NGR 364650 095340) in advance of a proposed planning application to undertake construction of an additional reservoir, adjacent to the existing. The Site occupied an area of approximately 0.45ha, on the crest of the valley overlooking the River Frome. It lay immediately south of earthworks that contain well preserved traces of enclosures and associated field systems of Iron Age and Romano-British date that are now designated as a Scheduled Monument. The evaluation area lay within an area surveyed by the Royal Commission of Historic Monuments which recorded two contiguous enclosures on the Site, although none of these have survived as extant features due, in all likelihood, to continued deep ploughing over at least the past 40 years. Five machine-dug trenches were excavated to evaluate anomalies detected during an earlier geophysical survey and considered to be possible archaeological features. The results indicate that deposits undisturbed by the plough lie along the northern edge of the Site and especially in the north east corner of the Site. Elsewhere ploughing has truncated the subsoil into the top of the underlying pebbly clay; however in all trenches well preserved features including ditches, pits and postholes were exposed. An artefact assemblage, principally pottery of Iron Age and Romano-British date was recovered.