EDO5945 - New display panels, Portland Castle, Castletown, Portland; watching brief 2012

Observations and recording during erection of two new display panels in the gardens, necessitating the excavation of two rectangular pits. Initail excavation to the top of natural deposits was carried out under archaeological supervision. Pit 1 on the east side of the path outside the Captain's House measured 0.65m by 0.3m, and was dug to a depth of 0.58m. Pit 2, next to steps up to the gun platform on the east side of the castle, measured 3.05m by 1.0m and was dug to a depth of 0.6m. In Pit 1 a series of mixed undated soil layers were seen below a layer of flint gravel, probably an earlier path or yard surface. A similar sequence of deposits was seen in Pit 2, but with occasional animal bone fragments recorded between 0.37 and 0.5m deep. No significant archaeological features or deposits were encountered.