EDO4183 - Old Foundry Site, Fordington High Street; Evaluation Trial Pit 4

AC Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation of the former Lott and Walne Foundry site, Fordington High Street, Dorchester, in June 1997. This comprised the machine excavation of three trenches outside the existing building and four hand-excavated trial pits within it. Trial pit 4 measured 1.1m x 1.1m and was hand excavated to a maximum depth of 1.12m against the east internal wall of the Foundry building. It was excavated as an extension to a geotechnical pit. No archaeological features were observed, modern layers existed to a depth of 0.43m below which a dark grey silty clay with charcoal flecks and brick fragments, up to 0.5m thick, was observed. This layer contained medieval and post-medieval pottery and clay pipe. Below this a dirty off-white chalk layer, up to 0.22m thick, contained a single sherd of Romano-British pottery. Natural chalk was encountered at a depth of 1.12m.