EWX539 - 20 West Walls, Wareham; excavation 1953

H G BURR '…dug a trial pit between the house and the cess pit at no. 20 West Walls in 1953…' this excavation followed on from the discovery of a late 3rd-4th century BBW jar found whilst digging the cess pit at 20 West Walls in 1936. Two similar pots were found whilst digging an air raid shelter in the garden of 9 Tinkers Lane nearby, along with a quernstone and a 'sandstone finger bowl' possibly a mortar. Mr Burr found '...Romano-British sherds, mostly of cooking pots and conical bowls, and plain dishes..' above a hard 'trodden' floor with a post hole at one edge. Here was a lot of charcoal and ash on the floor, into which had been trodden a sherd of New Forest ware. Below this was any ashy soil layer and below that was a definate clay floor surrounded by a rough border of mortar into which were cut two post-holes. Beneath this clay floor was a gravelly layer which proved to be a pit filling containing early RB pottery. Mr Burr subsequently excavated another trench on the east side of Tinker's Lane, opposite 20 West Walls, in which he found a large Iron Age pit. [1]