SDO9502 - The Recluse, Culliford Road North, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Test Pitting Evaluation Report

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by CgMs Consulting, to carry out a test pitting evaluation on land at ‘The Recluse’, Culliford Road North, Dorchester, Dorset, centred on NGR 369635 90287. Archaeological evaluation was undertaken in advance of the submission of a planning application for demolition of the existing buildings and residential redevelopment of the Site. In total three test pits were hand excavated on the Site, with a fourth intrusion into what proved to be an area of hard standing, the remains of a former hard tennis court. In the three completed test pits, layers of mixed and disturbed material was identified below the turf and topsoil, almost certainly indicative of one or more former plough soils. This material was found to overlie the natural chalk, itself pitted and disturbed by root action. One of the deposits, identified in Test Pit 1, contained finds dating to no later than the Mediaeval period, and may represent an in situ layer of Mediaeval date. A small assemblage of finds ranging in date from prehistoric flint to Post-medieval ceramics were retrieved from the mixed deposits, suggesting cultivation of the area for a considerable amount of time. A modern pipe trench and an additional linear feature, interpreted as likely to be of natural origin were identified in Test Pit 2, no further cut features were identified within the remaining test pits.