EDO3931 - Land to the West of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester; Evaluation Trench 8

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land to the west of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester, in advance of the proposed Phase II Poundbury development. The site was known to contain three undated linear cropmarks and a postulated post-medieval chalk pit. Twenty-three machine-excavated trenches were investigated, each measuring at least 1.8m x 30m and totalling c. 1296 square metres. Trench 8 was 31.3m long and aligned N-S. Clay-with-flint natural subsoil was encountered at a depth of 0.2m below ground level. A pit, 2.6m in diameter and 1m deep with straight steeply sloping sides and concave base, contained numerous fragments of Late Bronze Age pottery and worked flint. A small deposit of burnt stone was also found at its base.