SDO12264 - Christchurch Priory Drainage Repairs. Archaeological Watching Brief

The watching brief was commissioned by the Fabric Repairs Committee of the Priory Church in accordance with a Condition of Scheduled Monument Consent. It took place during limited groundworks occasioned by non-elective repairs to the surface water drainage system serving the south side of the Lady Chapel of Christchurch Priory. Intensely disturbed soils were found to a depth of 800mm below ground level. Small quantities of disarticulated human bone were recovered and the excavations revealed the buttress foundations at the south-east corner of the stair turret but no other significant archaeological observations were made. The report concluded that evidence showed that all the ground along the southern side of the priory church has been disturbed to between 400mm and 800mm and that significant archaeological remains are unlikely to have survived.