EDO4327 - Dorchester By-pass; watching brief 1987-88

A watching brief was maintained during the topsoil stripping for the construction of the Dorchester By-pass, by Wessex Archaeology, in 1987-1988. This watching brief followed on from a programme of evaluation trenching and selected area excavations. The results from all parts of the Dorchester By-pass fieldwork were published together (2). For much of the course of the by-pass, very few additional features were found outside of the areas already investigated. The principal new features were two pit circles found to the north of Conygar Hill, which were then fully excavated and several ring ditches at Maiden Castle Farm.. Elsewhere, a small number of additional features were found adjacent to the excavation areas at Flagstones and Maiden Castle Road, which have been incorporated with the results from those excavations. Elsewhere, almost all other features were probable field boundary ditches, the majority probably related to the medieval and post-medieval field systems.