SDO10643 - Proposed New Community Building: St Peter's Church, Pimperne, Dorset - Evaluation. Interim Report.

Bournemouth Archaeology was commissioned by Pimperne Parish Council to undertake an archaeological evaluation of the site of a proposed new community building adjacent to and to the north of St Peter's church, Pimperne. Two trenches were dug, and revealed a drainage channel, the remains of a wall running east-west, and otherwise generally disturbed deposits containing a variety of material including nails, building material, and human bone fragments. No grave cuts were observed. In addition to the human bone fragments, the partial remains of two neonates (babies, either stillborn or dying shortly after birth) were discovered in the made ground layer. The east-west wall was of flint and brick and interpreted as the remains of a north transept for which funding was sought in 1883, though the author notes that there are records of a north transept being added to the church in 1834. This brick-built transept was destroyed when the church was almost entirely rebuilt in 1870. The author concludes that the general absence of grave cuts during this evaluation and earlier episodes of disturbance to the north of the church make it unlikely that any formal burials would be affected by the proposed development, but that further neonate burials may be disturbed by foundation and service trenches.