EDO201 - High Street, Shaftesbury; excavation

'At Easter 1971 archaeological excavations took place on the north east side of High Street, Shaftesbury opposite Tout Hill.' The excavations seem to have taken the form of a single trench running along the back of plots fronting on to High Street. The stated aim of the excavation was to find evidence for a putative late Saxon or early medieval town defensive line corresponding with that of Tout Hill, High Street and Gold Hill.[1][2] The site had been much disturbed by modern and 19th century cellars and cisterns. However, some medieval stratigraphy did survive. Notably a bedding trench packed with rubble supporting a line of stake holes was revealed with a larger structural post-hole at the southern end. This and two pits dated from the 12th-13th centuries. A third pit (pit 1) contained an important group of early 19th century earthenware pottery. [2] The pottery from pit 1 was examined and published by Jo Draper and see to date from the 1820's [1].