EDO3758 - Former Hardye's School, Barnes Way, Dorchester; Trench 5

An archaeological field evaluation of former playing fields and land adjacent to the former Hardye’s School, Dorchester was conducted by AC archaeology during September and October 1996, in advance of development of the site for housing. A total of 14 machine-excavated trenches were dug, comprising an approximate 2.7% sample of the 7.88 ha of proposed development. Trench 5 was aligned roughly N-S and measured about 50m long. The terminal of an E-W aligned Romano-British field ditch (2.85m wide, 0.4m deep) was found at its northern end. This continued east into Trench 6 but not as far as Trench 7. At the southern end of the trench was a pair of E-W aligned, double ditches at the southern end, at least one of which could be seen to continue across the site into trenches 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.