EDO4225 - Middle Farm, Bridport Road, Dorchester; excavation 1992

An excavation was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in advance of development by the Duchy of Cornwall. The excavation followed a two-stage trial trenching and fieldwalking evaluation, which had identified a Bronze Age field system. It comprised the excavation of four trenches each approximately 100m x 50m in area (1) (2). "A number of Early Neolithic pits containing substantial assemblages of pottery and worked flint were recorded. These represent important additions to our knowledge of non-monumental activity in this area. Further pits, round-houses and field boundary ditches extend the known pattern of settlement and field systems in the immediate vicinity of the South Winterborne valley during the Bronze Age with both Early-Middle and Late Bronze Age components present. Additional finds include a palaeolithic hand-axe, Late Mesolithic flintwork and Late Iron Age/early Romano-British marl pits." (2)