EDO5129 - Sherborne Abbey Primary School replacement site Lenthay Road, Sherborne; evaluation trench 9

Southern Archaeological Services conducted an archaeological evaluation on land at the western end of Lenthay Road in advance of the proposed building of the Sherborne Abbey Primary School replacement site between 12 and 19 January 1998. Nine trenches… were excavated by JCB. Two possible ring features 15-19m in diameter, may be the ploughed out remains of Bronze Age round barrows. Ditches, two small annular features, small pits/post holes and stake holes were also recorded. Some features lay below 1.2m of hill wash, suggesting some antiquity, although no dateable artefacts were recovered. Some may be agricultural features associated with the Roman villa 150m SW of the site. Medieval to modern land drains and a grubbed out field boundary were also observed. Trench 9 measured 30m x 1.8m, was aligned NE-SW and formed a T shape with Trench 8. It was located in the SE corner of the eastern field. Three archaeological features were observed in this trench; two were truncated linears running across the trench. The third feature [907] was a NW-SE aligned linear and appears to be the same as feature [804] in Trench 8. They may represent, when taken with a geophysical anomaly seen to the south, an enclosure boundary or drainage ditch.