EDO4318 - Southern Dorchester By-pass, Flagstones; evaluation (Trench FR10)

Two trial trenches, both 30m long, were excavated by Wessex Archaeology as part of the evaluation of the course of the Southern Dorchester By-pass in 1987, in the area between the Dorchester By-pass evaluation trench FR9 to the north and Alington Avenue to the south. Trench FR10N was in the back garden of the house known as ‘Flagstones’ and Trench FR10S was in the front garden. Both of these trenches were within the area of the subsequent large-scale excavations at Flagstones undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 and the results incorporated together (1). Trench FR10N was sited within the area of the Flagstones enclosure, as defined by the geophysical survey (2). Very few features were found in this trench: an E-W ditch, part of the Iron Age field system and an Iron Age pit [00302]. Only the upper part of this pit was excavated as part of the evaluation, the remainder being excavated during the main excavations. A crouched inhumation was found in the top of this pit. Trench FR10S contained a number of features. In the northern part of the trench, part of a small ditched cremation cemetery was found, containing three cremations. To the south, part of the southern part of the circuit of the Flagstones Neolithic enclosure was exposed. A the southern end of the trench a shallow grave [50264] containing a crouched inhumation was found. The results of this evaluation have been incorporated with the results of the main Flagstones excavations and published together (1).