EDO5373 - Clinic Site, Bimport, Shaftesbury; observations and recording

A watching brief carried out during groundworks associated with the re-development of the site for residential use in two blocks. The work was undertaken by ASI for the Signpost Housing Association. The site was visited intermittently during the piecemeal excavation of foundations and shallow services, but all trenches were observed before concrete was poured. Foundations were excavated to depths of up to 2m, through very unstable deposits of made ground and rubble, which made detailed manual cleaning and recording impossible. Four features were revealed, comprising stone-lined drains and pits. Stone-lined drains were seen in both blocks. Both were constructed of un-mortared and roughly-faced Greensand blocks, capped with and bedded on limestone slabs. The excavators felt that these drains, though inherently undatable, were most likely to be early 19th century date. Their stratigraphic position beneath made ground suggests they may pre-date Castle House, and perhaps be associated with earlier street-front buildings. Two intercutting pits were recorded at the southern end of Block 2. Both were roughly circular, cut into the natural Greensand and sealed by the natural subsoil. Pit 1 contained a single deposit of very dark brown sandy clay, containing fragments of sandstone rubble and two fragments of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery. Pit 2 contained a single deposit of very dark brown sandy clay with fragments of sandstone rubble. The excavator feels that these pits are of potential significance, being very probably of prehistoric date, and in view of the fact that prehistoric origins for the Saxon fortifications of Shaftesbury have been alluded to but not hitherto supported by archaeologcial evidence. The author suggests that the difficulties of working on this site limited recording, and that the results obtained must be regarded as being only indicative of the nature and extent of deposits.