SWX8503 - An Archaeological Assessment of Land North of Windyridge, Worth Matravers, Dorset.

An archaeological assessment was carried out of land north of Windyridge, Worth Matravers, Dorset (NGR: SY 9747 7781). Examination of existing archaeological and historical data indicated that the Site lay within an area where evidence for activity in all periods from the Mesolithic onwards has been recovered. Management and division of the landscape for agriculture are evident from the Bronze Age onwards. Settlement remains have been found from the Early Iron Age (immediately adjacent to the site) and by the Late Iron Age and Romano-British period the immediate locale seems to have been settled with scattered farmsteads. Evidence of shale-working has been found from these periods (some from within the Site itself) and iron-working took place on a domestic scale. Evidence from the Saxon period is extremely sparse, but since that period the local economy has been predominantly agricultural with periods of stone quarrying to satisfy local, regional and national markets. Since the earliest Site-specific documentary record (1839-40) the site has been in agricultural use, but its name of “quarry Field” indicates that stone has been removed from within close proximity to the site. Past archaeological excavation immediately to the north and small archaeological interventions and observations within the bounds of the Site strongly suggest the presence of Iron Age (both Early and Late) and Romano-British settlement. Evidence for activity of Mesolithic and later date (such as flint-working) may also survive within the bounds of the site. Although the field has been ploughed in recent times, structures, artefacts, ecofacts and intact archaeological deposits survived well in Southampton University archaeological excavations immediately north of the Site. Some below-ground disturbance, in the form of a silage pit, has taken place on Site and also evidence of modern dumping, including artefact-rich archaeological deposits from another site, has been revealed. The assessment concluded that the likelihood of archaeological deposits (particularly of Iron Age and Roman-British date) surviving on parts of the Site was high and a proposal is put forward for excavation of evaluation trenches. These trenches are intended to provide sufficient information to allow the Senior Archaeologist for Dorset County Council to reach an informed opinion on the archaeological implications of the proposed development.