Monument record MDO37364 - Ditch 101002, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme evaluation trench 101

An undated ditch, perhaps with a posthole cut into it, was found in evaluation trench 101 of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. The ditch is part of a larger enclosure described in MDO44144 and recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project. The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

A ditch (101002) aligned roughly NE-SW was found in the central part of evaluation trench 101 of the archaeological evaluation of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. This ditch was 1.85m wide and at least 1.1m deep. It was not fully excavated, so its complete profile is not known with certainty, but may have been flat-bottomed.It was filled with layers of chalk and silt. The ditch corresponds to part of geophysical anomaly 260. [1] [2] The excavators record a large post hole with post pipe cut into the top of this ditch. Charcoal and mollusc shell was recovered from the post pipe fill. They suggest that it may form part of a possible palisade.[1] The presence of this post hole and putative palisade is not convincing from the photographs in the report and may be no more than part of the natural filling of the ditch. The location of the post hole in the upper part of the ditch suggests that the ditch was not associated with this postulated palisade. Careful examination of the original records may resolve this issue. [P Bellamy 31-12-2015] The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water. The ditch is part of a larger enclosure described in MDO44144 and recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project.

Record last edited

Aug 30 2022 6:11PM