Monument record MDO23379 - Well, Grammar School Lane, Wimborne Minster

A large, stone-lined well cut into a cone-shaped pit, interpreted as a construction pit, containing medieval pottery.

'The medieval features were concentrated in the northern part of the site, and few features and no early boundaries were found in the other trenches. In trench C however, a large stone-lined well was uncovered, built into a large cone-shaped construction pit, which contained medieval pottery. It is possible that the construction pit, of which only one side was revealed, may be the butt-end of a large medieval ditch, into which the well was later dug, and it is hoped to test this possibility with a magnetometer survey of the land adjacent to the site.' (1) 'In Trench C, a large stone lined well, 136, was found, though it was not possible to excavate its fill. This had been constructed within a large conical pit 137, the backfilling of which, layers 135 and 44, contained 12th and 13th century pottery. … features were sealed by a dark, fine soil, layer 38, which in general contained medieval pottery though some later sherds were also found … This layer covered the whole of the site to a depth of c. 0.40 m except in Trench A, where a continuous sequence of pits seems to have prevented its development.' (2) The excavator felt that this feature might fit into site Phase III or IV, being either twelfth to fourteenth century in date, or fifteenth to sixteenth century.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2010 6:18AM