SDO14890 - Archaeological Evaluation. Land south of Leigh Road, Wimborne Minster, Dorset (Phase II)

‘A first phase of evaluation (CA 2015b) of Land South of Leigh Road, Wimborne Minster, Dorset was undertaken in August 2015 which identified three main phases of activity. Activity dating to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age transition was recorded in the form of a pit; evidence of Late Iron Age/Romano-British transitional agricultural settlement was recorded including a possible corn-dryer/pottery kiln, and a field system; dating to the later Roman period (3rd Century AD) a system of enclosure ditches was recorded. A second phase of archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in February/March 2016. Twenty one trenches were excavated. One trench revealed a large, possibly prehistoric quarry pit. Two other undated pits were noted, one containing large quantities of crushed burnt flint which would appear to have had an as yet unknown industrial function, but also probably dating to the prehistoric period. An arc of seven postholes possibly forming a section of a roundhouse structure and seven undated ditches were also recorded. Trench 19 was excavated across a Scheduled Ancient Monument (MDO5439) revealing a pair of parallel flanking ditches and a thin sorted gravel layer, forming the metalling of a remnant Roman road. Moderate quantities of burnt and worked flint were recovered from all but one of the trenches. In terms of correlation with the Phase 1 trenching there is little from which one can draw comparison. For example in the Phase 1 evaluation Trenches 13, 14 and 15 closest to the Roman road alignment produced as one might expect, Roman pottery. However in the Phase II evaluation, just to the south of these trenches, Trenches 6 and 10 identified features or deposits from which only prehistoric material was recovered. These prehistoric finds could be residual, but it is odd that neither of these trenches produced any Roman material whatsoever. Obviously the presence and survival of the Roman road as identified within the scheduled area (Trench 19), provides a link and a focus for settlement activity during that period, and it is possible (but by no means certain) that it may survive further west (albeit most probably heavily truncated) within the Phase 1 footprint. Although the density of Phase II trenching was lower than that of the Phase 1 programme, the evidence would appear to suggest that there is a much lower density of archaeological activity within Phase II compared with Phase 1.’