SDO9539 - Proposed Sports Centre and Cemetery, Poundbury, Dorchester: Archaeological Evaluation

In March 1997 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Dorchester Town Council to undertake an archaeological field evaluation of three areas of proposed development lying between the Bridport Road and Poundbury Road, Dorchester. The aim of the evaluation was to provide information on the extent, date, nature, state of preservation and importance of buried remains within the site so that authoritative mitigation measures can be developed prior to the preparation of detailed development plans for the proposed scheme. Forty machine-excavated trenches, plus additional contingency trenches, were investigated. The field evaluation identified a range of archaeological features and deposits across the 16 ha site. These comprised deposits of hillwash in a coombe, a later Bronze Age ditched field system of variable survival, but best preserved in the north of the site, isolated pits of Bronze Age date, a probably Middle Bronze Age enclosed settlement and residual finds of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Roman date.