SWX8499 - Summary Report on an Archaeological Evaluation at Lower Bond Street, Melcombe Regis, Weymouth, Dorset.

Following a desk-based documentary assessment of the area round Lower Bond Street, Melcombe Regis, Weymouth, Dorset (site code DTS 6; NGR SY 6785 7900) conducted by Southern Archaeological Services Ltd (SAS) on behalf of the developer, Clients of Hill Samuel Asset Management and Shearer Property Developments Ltd, a second phase of field evaluation was specified by Weymouth & Portland Borough Council (WPBC), acting on the advice of the Dorset County Archaeologists Office (CAO). The contract for this work was awarded to SAS. Four trenches were specified but one, T4, could not be excavated because of the presence of buried services. T1, in the car park, was dug in two parts; it revealed much 19th-20th century disturbance, a well and a number of walls, as well as natural sand overlying clay and shingle., but no evidence of waterfront structures was observed. T2, also in the car park, revealed more walls and a stone-lined culvert of 19th-20th century date. T3, outside the White Hart public house, exposed walls, road surfaces and cobbled areas, also of 19th-20th century date, and natural sand. None of the trenches contained identifiably pre-Modern archaeology, although one unstratified fragment of Late Mediaeval sandyware was recovered from T1, and a sherd of Early Mediaeval sandyware was recovered from a Modern feature in T3. Natural deposits were alluvium. The fieldwork was conducted on 7-9 and 24-25 September 1998.