EWX651 - Paradise Street, Poole (PM21); excavation 1976

In August 1976 a small excavation of about 10 square metres was excavated by Poole Museum Service outside the main entrance to the Town Cellars, in order to try to relate the excavations within the Town Cellars to the development of the Great Quay. (3) The excavation revealed a dense layer of oyster shell (part of the same midden as found beneath the Town Cellars) at the base of the excavated sequence. Above this was a series of dark sedimentary layers , perhaps reflecting the use of the beach in front of the Town Cellars in the medieval period. These sedimentary deposits were sealed by a layer of orange sand with flints which appeared to be deliberately laid and perhaps associated with the development of the Great Quay in the sixteenth century. It was sealed by a series of deposits representing the deliberate raising of the ground levels in the eighteenth century.