EDO402 - Quarry Lodden, Bincombe; excavation 1971

In 1971 during digging of the trench for a gas pipeline passing east of Dorchester to the eastern end of Came Wood and then south-eastwards across the South Dorset Ridgeway along the spur to the west of Coombe Valley, Eric Flatters noticed an unusual depth of black soil east of Quarry Lodden. He also saw several pits and a number of crouched burials, one with a bowl of the so-called ‘war cemetery’ type seen at Maiden Castle. Subsequently small excavation was carried out at the point where observations of the trench suggested that occupation was most dense. Two trenches 3m long and 1.5m wide were excavated parallel to the pipeline trench and about 5m from it on either side. In due course the northern trench was abandoned, and the southern one extended to a 3m by 3m square.