EWX2166 - 8 West Street, Abbotsbury; archaeological watching brief 1996

Wessex Archaeology conducted an archaeological watching brief during the demolition of an old building and the digging of footings for a new building at 8 West Street, Abbotsbury. The work took place between the 30th July 1996 and 7 August 1996. The site was visited five times in that period. No archaeological deposits other than of late twentieth-century date were encountered and no finds retained. The watching brief had been imposed as part of the planning conditions due to the discovery on the site of a Bronze Age copper alloy palstave during the digging of a cess pit earlier in the 20th century. However, no artefacts were recovered during demolition of the old building and the footings for the new building did not penetrate below the level of 20th century made ground. There had obviously been considerable landscaping of the site in relatively recent times.