EDO5451 - The Leaze, Wimborne Minster; evaluation 2004

An archaeological evaluation undertaken by AC archaeology in connection with the proposed creation of a new cricket pitch and ancillary facilities, partly within Scheduled Monument Dorset No 678. Trenches were positioned away from extant earthworks, in areas considered to represent open fields next to the medieval settlement. Five trenches (1-5) were situated in the area proposed for construction of an access track, practice nets and parking, and a test pit (6) was dug in the vicinity of the proposed new pitch. The greatest density of archaeological features was found in Trench 1, situated at the closest point to the medieval settlement and adjacent to an extant bank and ditch; these were four separate linear features and a pit, dated by ceramic finds to the Later Iron Age - early Romano-British period. Trench 2 revealed three linear features of similar date. Trench 3 revealed two linear features and a small pit, which could not be dated by pottery finds. No archaeological features were found in Trench 4. Trench 5, situated adjacent to the rear boundaries of properties on Julians Road, revealed a small pit, filled with redeposited subsoil material, and quantities of relatively modern rubbish. No archaeological features were observed in Trench 6, in the area of the proposed new pitch, though a single sherd of medieval pottery was found in the topsoil. The trench was excavated to a depth of 1.4m, revealing a sequence of topsoil, subsoil, natural compacted flint gravel in clay, and flint gravel with larger nodules in clay. The author concluded that the work confirmed the supposition that the area was outside the principal settlement zone of the medieval suburb, since medieval pottery was recovered primarily from topsoil contexts, presumably as a result of manuring, and only one feature, a ditch, contained enough diagnostic pottery to be considered as being of possible medieval date. There appears to be a concentration of later prehistoric and Romano-British activity in the vicinity of Trenches 1 and 2. Since the features observed were too deep to be affected by the proposed facilities, the authors did not attempt to consider the form or character of the activity represented, though they do note that one sherd of possible Corfe Mullen ware indicates that some of the activity may have been contemporaneous with the occupation of the Roman military site at Lake Farm, some 1.5km to the south west. They also note that the presence of worked flint of Bronze Age date across the site suggests activity here or in the vicinity.