SDO9543 - Archaeological Evaluation of an Industrial Development Site, Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset

This report describes the results of an archaeological evaluation by Exeter Archaeology (EA) at Poundbury Industrial Estate (SY674907). The work was commissioned by Mildren Construction Limited in advance of a proposed development on behalf of Dorset Cereals Limited (Planning Application 1/E/98/0425), which will consist of a factory/office building in the southern part of the site with a possible extension (initially car parking) in the northern part of the site. The only archaeological feature exposed on the site was the pit (505) in trench 5. Due to the limited scope of this investigation, the exact shape and orientation of this feature could not be determined, but it was not interpreted as a linear feature. It seems most likely that it represents an infilled post-medieval chalk pit and that the associated finds are residual, deriving from a background source of abundant archaeological material. Several chalk pits were recorded on the 1902 OS map in the vicinity of Poundbury Farm including what appears to be an elongated example plotted just to the north-east of the present site (Ellis 1998, 9; Fig.2). It is possible that this is in fact the feature found in trench 5. The relative lack of chalk within its fill suggests that there was no earthwork associated with it that could have been used as filling material. No other archaeological features were encountered during the course of the evaluation but, in the light of the magnitude of adjacent archaeological activity (see section 2), and the additional presence on the site of residual prehistoric flints and pottery, the survival of deposits and features elsewhere within the development area cannot be discounted.