SWX8567 - Hardy Complex, Portland, Dorset: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment.

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Corner Homes to undertake a desk based assessment of a c. 8.45 ha area of land at the north end of the Portland peninsula, Dorset (National Grid Reference 3688 0742) to facilitate the determination of a planning application. There are no Scheduled Monuments or Listed Buildings within the boundaries of the Site although a number of both are located within the Study Area to the immediate north, west and south of the Site. The Site bounds both sides of the 'Merchants' Incline', a Victorian quarry railway cutting, which is within the Fortuneswell designated 'Conservation Area' of the Weymouth and Portland District Local Plan. This feature, and an area to the immediate north of the Site including an old railway cutting, is within the designated 'Area of National Archaeological Importance' within the Local Plan. The results also demonstrate that archaeological remains from almost every period of human history exist within the Study Area although the only finds of note within the Site were an Early Bronze Age burial (2400 - 1500 BC) and a significant number of Late Iron Age/Roman burials (100 BC - AD 410) located during previous development. The archaeological record is dominated by the discoveries of extensive inhumation cemeteries of the Iron Age and Roman periods in North Common, Fortuneswell and the north slopes of Verne Hill. During the construction of a large reservoir in c. 1855, within the southern extent of the Site, at least 20 burials of Late Iron Age/Roman date were recorded with rare metalwork, coins and pottery of the same date recorded in the general area. Cartographic studies have shown that hospital and accommodation buildings were constructed in the northern extent of the Site from the mid-19th century onwards, culminating in the construction of the still-extant accommodation blocks of HMS Osprey in 1984, which has probably destroyed nearly all earlier features, except the aforementioned railway cutting. No structures are shown on any maps of the southern part of the Site except for the reservoir, now infilled and used as a football pitch. No visible historical structural remains were recorded during a Site visit. The study highlights the low to moderate potential for archaeological features or deposits of Late Iron Age or Roman date (probably funerary in nature) to be present in the southernmost part of the Site. However, this area has been artificially terraced and a large amount of upcast material has been used to build an earthen bund around the north-east, north and west sides of the reservoir. this dumped material therefore makes the possible preservation or destruction of these potential features/deposits difficult to ascertain. There is negligible to low archaeological potential in the disused HMS Osprey buildings and associated car parking facilities which are likely to have substantially truncated any archaeological remains.