EDO4315 - Southern Dorchester By-pass; evaluation 1987

An archaeological evaluation in the form of trial trenching was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in early 1987 along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass. A total of 19 individual trenches were excavated at St George's Road (Trenches FR8N & FR8S), Flagstones (Trenches FR9, FR10N & FR10S), south of Alington Avenue (Trenches FR11W, FR11E, FR11 N), Maiden Castle Road (Trenches FR12N & FR12S), Fordington Field (FR13N & FR13S), Middle Farm (FR14 & FR15), and Bridport Road Ridge (FR17, FR18 & FR18A). (1) The evaluation trenches at St George's Road and Flagstones were sited to investigate geophysical anomalies (2). The remainder of the evaluation trenches were sited to investigate individual soilmarks. The results of the evaluation excavations indicated a small post-ring and associated ditches at St George's Road; a Neolithic interrupted ditch enclosure, prehistoric cremation burials, Iron Age burials and a field system at Flagstones; late Roman burials, hut features and linear boundaries at Maiden Castle Road; a Bronze Age enclosure and a linear boundary at Middle Farm. These areas were all selected for further area excavation. The of the evaluation trenches had either no archaeological features or a small number of undated linear ditches in them. The results of the evaluation were published together with the results from the large-scale excavations in 1997 (1).