SDO11531 - No. 1 Salisbury Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset. Archaeological evaluation, June 2003.

Trial excavations at the rear of the No. 1 Salisbury Street in Shaftesbury revealed approximately 2000mm of deeply stratified deposits, comprising a cess pit, soil build up layers, a wall foundation and a linear ditch, containing pottery, ceramic building material, animal bone and iron slag. Pottery recovered from most of these deposits indicates a date range of 12th to 14th century for the lower layers, with post-Medieval material recovered from the uppermost layers. The report that concludes that whilst the results are methodologically and archaeologically significant, the deposits that would be affected by the proposed development are ‘backland’ deposits of low-moderate archaeological potential, some of which are likely to have been created by terracing off-site. The proposed development would have a low-moderately deleterious impact if constructed on traditional or reduced-formation level foundations; i.e. not one that would impede future interpretation of adjacent sites.