SDO10459 - Land to the rear of Clarendon Road, Christchurch, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation Report

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by RPS Planning, Transport and Environment, acting on behalf of Network Rail, to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land (the Site) immediately north of Christchurch railway station, Dorset. The archaeological potential of the Site was highlighted by the reputed discovery in the 1880s of a Middle Bronze Age urned cremation burial 'behind Christchurch railway station'. Ground reduction works associated with the creation of Christchurch railway station might have offered a closer provenance for this find, and the evaluation was designed to address the potential of the site to yield further in-situ Bronze Age funerary remains. Nine evaluation trenches were excavated. Eight were archaeologically blank, or contained only features of recent date. An isolated shallow pit excavated in Trench 5 contained no finds and remains undated. The evaluation has demonstrated that a raised terrace along the northern edge of the Site remains largely undisturbed, as does land at the Site's western end. These zones have additionally been protected by dumping of up to 0.50m of redeposited topsoil above the former topsoil/ploughsoil. Whilst there is potential for archaeological remains to survive in these undisturbed areas, the paucity of features or finds noted during the evaluation suggests there is a limited likelihood that significant remains are present. The evaluation has also confirmed that the lower-lying southern part of the Site has been truncated onto, or slightly below, the upper surface of natural gravels. This zone has negligible archaeological potential.