EDO5957 - 1 and 2 Court Farm Cottages, Bere Regis; watching brief 2011

Observations and recording during groundworks associated with refurbishment of adjoining cottages. The excavation of two soakaways and connecting trenches to the north and south of the cottages was monitored as well as an oil line trench to the south and a series of underpinning holes and test pits around the eastern and south west corner of the cottages. The report concluded that the south western gable end of the western end of the original house may have been medieval origin. Other remains and deposits were post-medieval or modern. The south eastern cornerstone of cottage 609 had a chamfered edge and fleur-de-lys motif derived from a fire surround dating to the 15th/16th centuries, interpreted as a re-use of stone from manorial buildings. Victorian drainage systems suggested use of the building as a laundry.