EWX1049 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, King Street, Wimborne Minster; excavations 1983

Small-scale excavations undertaken in advance of development. The site was felt to be of particular interest because of its location south of the minster, within an area suggested for a late Saxon ecclesiastical settlement, and in relation to King Street and Grammar School Lane, both thought to be medieval streets. Four trenches were excavated, and material recovered indicated that the main period of occupation on the site began in the twelfth century, with medieval and later activity being concentrated on the King Street frontage, at the northern end of the site. The rest of the area appeared to be covered by a uniform layer of garden soil, with few recognisable features. A small amount of pottery of 11-12th century date was found, and evidence of a substantial timber building which could not itself be dated but which pre-dated the earliest buildings on the site which could be shown to be medieval in date. Trenches dug close to the southern and western edges of the site found no trace of medieval or earlier boundary ditches, to substantiate the suggestion of Saxon or early medieval settlement in this area.