EDO5449 - Abley's, 29 High Street, Wimborne Minster; excavation 1990

A building survey and archaeological excavation of the interior were carried out in advance of renovation, which involved considerable structural alteration, as part of a larger scheme to create a tourist information centre and storage for the adjacent Priest's House Museum. The building is situated in the centre of the historic town, close to the north-eastern corner of a proposed line of the minster precinct boundary. The present building is considered to have originated in the early seventeenth century as a central hall with two opposed cross-wings, with later modifications. In 1983 renewal of a floor revealed evidence suggesting an earlier building overlying medieval cobbles. The entire ground floor of the main building and the first room of an extension to the rear were investigated archaeologically. It became clear that levels had been reduced over most of the area; no archaeological levels associated with the present building had survived, but medieval and post-medieval features were exposed. A ditch, aligned east-west, ran across the building. Excavation in the front part of the building revealed the depth, profile and fillings of this feature to be quite irregular. The fillings contained pottery of twelfth to thirteenth century date. A well and two pits to the south of the ditch were also dated to the medieval period. A second well pit, a rubbish pit with a stone setting in the top, and three features interpreted as post-holes were of post-medieval date. The relationship between the stone setting and the post-holes and any buildings on the site could not be determined.