SDO9521 - New Cemetery (Phase 1) Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset. Archaeological Watching Brief

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Paul Scott Architect, on behalf of the Dorchester Joint Burial Committee, to undertake an archaeological watching brief during groundworks associated with Phase I of the construction of a new cemetery on land adjacent to Poundbury Road, to the north-west of Dorchester, Dorset (centred on National Grid Reference (NGR) 367970091020. A single linear feature was identified during the watching brief and was almost certainly a component of the Bronze Age ditched field system recorded during earlier archaeological investigations. This date is consistent with the widespread system of Bronze Age (2400-700 BC) fields supporting enclosed and unenclosed settlements located across the undulating downland to the west of Dorchester. Elsewhere across the Site the observed deposits were entirely consistent with the anticipated Cretaceous sequence identified by the Geological Survey of England and Wales.