SDO13900 - A Proposed Mains Renewal from Crichel Down, Tarrant Launceston to the A354 Salisbury Road, Tarrant Hinton (ST 9562 0943 to ST 9421 1112): A Preliminary Archaeological Assessment

‘An archaeological assessment of the proposed water mains renewal between Crichel Down and the A354 Salisbury road at Tarrant Hinton has comprised a review of the Dorset Sites and Monuments Record and a walkover survey, carried out during April 1996. The scheme crosses the SW-facing spurs and combes overlooking the Tarrant Valley, in an area where there are many known sites of archaeological importance. The Sites and Monuments Record currently contains information on two known sites directly affected by the scheme; the present parish boundary between Tarrant Hinton and Tarrant Launceston, which may be part of a more extensive former prehistoric linear dyke system and a Celtic Field Group located towards the southern end of the project. There are also other sites in the immediate area, including an important group of funerary monument at Hyde Hill Plantation and a section of the Badbury Rings to Bath Roman Road, which runs within 100m of the northern end of the scheme, to the west. Unfavourable field conditions during the walkover survey, will have reduced the ability to identify minor surface features, but the intensity of arable cultivation indicates that the survival of earthworks in the area is poor. It is not possible to identify further specific impacts of the scheme, but there is the potential for discovery of archaeological deposits either uncovered by topsoil removal or during excavation of the pipe trench.’