SDO9986 - Middle Farm, Bridport Road, Dorchester. Archaeological Assessment Stage 2: Trial Trenching

Fifteen machine cut trenches, covering some 2280 square metres, (1.9% of the development area) were excavated in February 1990. Because of the adverse weather conditions, no hand-dug test pits were dug, but this is unlikely to prejudice results. Four trenches contained no visible features (trenches E, J, K, M); two trenches only natural tree holes (trenches A & P). The remaining 11 trenches contained archaeological features. These included nine ditch segments, one small pit, three ?marl pits, one articulated cow burial and three modern post-holes. The tops of the features had been truncated by ploughing; some shallow features may have been totally lost, but some do survive. Five ditches (trenches H, I, L & N) contained middle Bronze Age pottery and worked flint, in addition to earlier Bronze Age flint tools and flakes. One ditch (trench F) contained Late Bronze Age pottery. The features without datable artefacts are likely to be contemporary with these dated features, apart form the possible marl pits, which are pre-medieval, but cannot be more closely dated. Though the majority of the features are ditches or boundaries, indicating fields or enclosures, some smaller settlement features also survive, which might indicate buildings. Because of the nature of the bedrock (generally clay-with-flints) and the type of filling (clay), features are not easily identified. The assessment has produced important new evidence for the origin and dating of field systems in the Dorchester area, and suggests that contemporary, enclosed Middle Bronze Age settlement sites are located within the proposed development area in at least two areas, in the north east and south of the field. It is also likely that unenclosed Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age settlements may lie in the southern part of the area (adjacent to known remains at the Coburg Road site) and possibly in the north east around trench F.