SDO9620 - Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester, Dorset: Magnetic Susceptibility and Magnetometer survey.

Magnetic susceptibility field sensing and magnetometry was undertaken on a 9.5 ha site on playing fields belonging to Castlefield and Dorchester Middle Schools and adjacent farmland and scrub to the west and northwest. The site produced a considerable number of magnetic anomalies and a number can be positively identified as features visible from the air and at least one has been confirmed as having a later prehistoric origin by previous archaeological investigation. The gradiometer data demonstrates that the aerial photo evidence only partially represents former ancient alignments. A group of at least four substantial ring ditches, probably representing a barrow alignment on an east-west axis has been located. The site is also crossed by a number of other linears, the majority of which are probably post-medieval agricultural marks.