EWX2317 - Proposed Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education and Field Studies Centre: evaluation of existing car park area

Wessex Archaeology undertook an evaluation of the existing car park at Hengistbury Head in December 2001, in order to assess the potential for the survival of archaeological deposits and features in this area. This was undertaken as part of a proposal to investigate the feasibility of siting the proposed Hengistbury Head education centre in the car park. Ten machine-excavated trenches were dug through the existing tarmac. Trenches 1 to 5, in the western side of the site indicated that almost all deposits of archaeological potential had already been severely truncated or wholly removed, almost certainly as a consequence of the construction and landscaping of the present car park. In the eastern side of the car park, there were variations in the local topography which had allowed the accumulation of significant deposits of windblown sand and ploughsoil. These deposits protected the eastern side of the site from the degree of truncation observed in Trenches 1-5. In the particular, deposits of ploughsoil were observed overlying the natural gravel within Trenches 8 and 10. A single possible feature was recorded in Trench 7. (1)