EDO5775 - Geotechnical borehole, Sandsfoot Castle, Weymouth; observations and recording 2010

Archaeological observations and recording during digging of the inspection pit for a geotechnical borehole in the earthwork bastion of Sandsfoot Castle. The borehole (reference Borehole BH04) was drilled as part of a wider geotechnical investigation of the coast between Bincleaves and Sandsfoot as part of the Portland Harbour NW Shore Coastal Erosion Study. Borehole BH04 was located in the southernmost surviving part of the 17th-century bastion, and revealed a 0.49m depth of stratigraphy overlying the natural clay, comprising mainly topsoils containing no artefacts, with a thin layer of stone and mortar debris with clinker and oyster shell. This layer could not be dated but is thought most likely to be associated with either a construction phase of the castle or a period of robbing of stonework after the castle had been abandoned.