EDO5159 - 39 Cheap Street, Sherborne; Evaluation Trench 1

AC Archaeology conducted a desk based assessment and archaeological evaluation in order to provide supporting information for a feasibility study in advance of proposed residential/ commercial development. The work took place during July 2004. This comprised a review of historic maps, survey of existing buildings and the machine excavation of two trenches, 1m wide and totalling 7m in length. Evidence was recovered for activity on the site from the early medieval period. A rubbish pit contained large quantities of medieval pottery, animal bone and oyster shell, and was probably located at the rear of a building not identified in the evaluation. This building would have fronted on to Cheap Street, and have been located beneath the present butcher’s shop. Part of an 18th century building, visible on an estate map dated 1733, was excavated. The cartographic evidence also suggests that parts of the extant buildings date from the early 18th century, although most were probably constructed in the middle of the 19th century. A probable WWII air raid shelter was recorded in one of the trenches. Trench 1 measured 4 x 1m in plan and was aligned approximately E-W in the NE corner of the site, close to the position of a building marked on a map of 1733. The trench contained a large sub-circular rubbish pit [F109] containing exclusively medieval pottery in its lower fills, as well as animal bone CBM and oyster shell. Rectilinear cut [F107] had almost vertical sides and a flattish base containing rubble in its lowest fill that may have been the foundation of a partition wall for the 18th century building. A further post-medieval deposit [104] was a concentration of limestone slabs which may represent the collapse of the buildings external wall. (1)