EDO4964 - Mill Stream (Site X9), Christchurch; trial trench 1973

D Markell, on behalf of the South Wessex Archaeological Association, excavated a 7m x 1m trial trench near the mill stream, Christchurch during 1973. Beneath the topsoil was an L-shaped structure [S8], 3.0m long with two courses of unbonded limestone, Purbeck limestone and flint. This continued as a limestone scatter in the later X12 excavations (1976). There was no indication of a floor level. Below this was a brown clay layer which sealed steeply sloping waterlogged dump layers containing timbers. In the light of later excavations it seems that this trial trench was on the berm of the robbed defences and the timber may represent debris used to backfill the defensive ditch. The date of structure [S8] is likely to be 13th-15th century.