EDO6397 - BO457: Lambert's Hill to Winterbourne Abbas Water Treatment Works; archaeological monitoring and recording 2011-12

Monitoring of groundworks for the installation of a water main. Two phases of construction were monitored, firstly, the excavation of trial pits of c. 3m by 3m and trenches of c. 1.5m by 1.5m by 2m minimum depth, by tracked vehicle with a 2.4m wide toothless bucket. Secondly, topsoil was stripped by the same method along an easement measuring c. 5.3km long by 12m wide. A well-dated Middle to late Neolithic pit was a significant discovery and the sherds it contained comparable with other known sites. The identification of probable Bronze Age ditches may have indicated that recorded field systems had earlier origins that currently attributed and a large ditch may have formed a boundary along the lower slope of the valley. A ring gully marked the probable outline of a roundhouse.