EDO206 - Barton Manor House, Shaftesbury; excavation

The site of Barton Manor House was excavated by the Shaftesbury and District Historical Society between 1950 and 1951. The work was conducted in advance of the construction of a car park and cattle market. In 1950 a 15ft trench was dug through an old hedge bank on the north side of Cockram's Field, principally in order to test the depth of the top soil. A dozen pieces of medieval and two pieces of Romano-British pottery were found [1]. In 1951 three trenches measuring 70 ft by 2ft were excavated on the supposed site of the manor (marked on OS maps), 40 ft apart, with others at right angles. These revealed only ambiguous footings and two layers of debris containing medieval and post-medieval pottery and tiles [2]. The excavations suggest that this was not the site of the manor house, but may have been the site of yards attached to it [3].