EDO572 - Land south of Tinneys Lane, Sherborne; evaluation trench 1

AC Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation during April 1996 in advance of proposed residential development South of Tinney’s Lane, Sherborne. The work comprised the machine excavation of four trenches between 20m and 21m long and 1.6m wide. The site was largely unaffected by modern disturbance and archaeological levels were generally discontinuous but well preserved. Evidence for extensive medieval quarrying was revealed in the northern part of the site, and a large ditch containing Roman pottery was also discovered. A human crouched burial of probable prehistoric date was found in the centre of the site and it may be contemporary with Bronze Age pottery found nearby. The SE part of the site had been severely truncated by post-medieval terracing and the SW part contained little of archaeological interest. Trench 1 was 21m long, aligned NW-SE, in the northern corner of the site. 0.25m-0.6m of topsoil (thicker towards the SE) overlay subsoil containing post-medieval artefacts. This overlay natural limestone and clay which was cut by a number of archaeological features. [F103] was a ditch containing roman pottery and a fragment of lava stone. The ditch had a 'v'-profile, measured 2m wide and 0.8m deep and was aligned WSW-ENE. [F112] was a succession of pits covering most of the SE half of the trench and containing medieval pottery. They probably represent medieval quarry pits (1).