EDO187 - Pikes Car Showrooms, High Street, Shaftesbury: observations and recording during re-development

The secretary of the Shaftesbury and District Archaeological Group made observations during redevelopment of Pikes Car Showrooms to shops and offices. Two pits were noted in the cellar. According to the SDAG report, the 'natural' stratification was 1.70 metres below pavement level, and the elevation was 3.90 metres from the internal face of the rear wall and 0.40 metres from the shop front. The centres of the pits were 1.55 metres and 3.15 metres from the south west wall, and both pits had been cut into the natural sandstone. One pit measured 1.70 metres across. The base of this was just visible at 2.80 metres below pavement level, and contained bones, presumably animal bones, and medieval pot sherds. The base of the second pit was 2.70 metres below pavement level. Apart from the very bottom of the first pit and the top 1.70 metres of disturbed soil including that which extended from the top of one pit to the other, the fillings of the pits contained bones, glass, and pot sherds of eighteenth and nineteenth-century date, and appeared contemporary. The depth of the disturbed soil to the north east of the second pit was only 90cm. The SDAG report includes the information that a photographic record was made; its whereabouts are not known.