SDO15248 - Flood Alleviation Works near Charminster Bridge, East Hill, Charminster, Dorset. Archaeological Watching Brief Report

‘Wessex Archaeology (WA) was commissioned by Dorset County Council and the Environment Agency to undertake historic building recording and an archaeological watching brief prior to and during the dismantling of Charminster Bridge along with an archaeological watching brief during associated flood alleviation works in St Mary’s churchyard and adjacent locations in Charminster, Dorset, centred on Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (NGR) 367950 092670. The historic building record and the associated watching brief on the bridge have already been reported (Wessex Archaeology 2016), and therefore the scope of this document is to report on the archaeological watching brief which monitored the other flood alleviation works within adjacent areas. The watching brief was maintained over several days intermittently between 8th May 2015 and 30th June 2016. The watching brief focused on monitoring groundworks in three main areas: drainage and kerb/path construction in St Mary’s churchyard and the adjacent riverside; preparatory work locating services in East Hill road either side of the bridge; and drainage channel excavation and connection to existing culvert in Nine Acre field, located approximately 100 m to the south-west of the bridge and church. Very limited archaeological remains were uncovered during the archaeological monitoring. As anticipated, some human bone was uncovered in St Mary’s churchyard and found to be the articulated upper right side of a possibly supine inhumation, only part of which lay within the excavated trench. These human remains were fully recorded, lifted and reburied in approximately the same location. One wide shallow ditch was uncovered during works in ‘Nine Acre’ field. A single sherd of postmedieval pottery was recovered from its single fill. Observations recorded that this ditch continued to the northern extent of this field and into an existing brick culvert, so the feature is likely to be late post-medieval/modern in date, probably19th /20th century, and served a drainage function, just like the new channel that was excavated as part of the groundworks in this area. A very small quantity of medieval pottery was also recovered from the topsoil in this field.’