SDO14669 - Leigh Road, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation Report.

‘Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Wyatt Homes to carry out an archaeological trial trench evaluation on a 1.2 hectare block of land at Leigh Road, Wimborne Minster, Dorset (NGR 403000 099900). The Site has been proposed for the formation of a new highway junction. A formal planning application (Planning Application 3/14/1097/FUL) was submitted to East Dorset District Council in November 2014 and is currently pending a decision. The Site is located within the 1km study area of a Desk Based Assessment prepared in March 2015 (WA 2015) for the Client regarding a site currently under proposal for a residential housing development. The site is Land at Parmiter Drive, Wimborne, Dorset and is located 0.5km southwest from the Site. A geophysical survey on land immediately to the south was undertaken in October 2014 (CgMs 2014) by Pre-Construct Geophysics Ltd commissioned by Cotswold Archaeology. The results of the gradiometer survey was limited by a widespread ferrous litter contained within a domestic compost which had been deposited across the survey site however a number of possible ditches and a potential small enclosure were identified. The Site lies 0.2km north-west from an English Heritage Scheduled Monument (National Heritage List for England No. 1018028). The monument is a recorded 120m section of a Roman road thought to run between the Lake Farm fortress at Wimborne and Southampton. The Senior Archaeologist at Dorset County Council (DCC) acting as the archaeological advisor to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) recommended that an archaeological evaluation was carried out to determine the presence and extent of any archaeological remains. The evaluation, comprising three trenches each measuring approximately 35m by 1.8m, was conducted under the guidance of an approved Written Scheme of Investigation (WA 2015) submitted in advance to DCC. The evaluation has revealed a low level of archaeological remains at the Site, with single archaeological features, albeit of perhaps limited significance, found in each of the three evaluation trenches, comprising two ditches, both similarly aligned approximately east to west, and a portion of a relatively substantial shallow pit. The southernmost ditch produced two sherds of Romano-British pottery (likely Black Burnished ware of an as yet indeterminate date within the broad Late Iron Age/ Romano-British period that such pottery was current). The dating evidence is broadly contemporaneous with the adjacent Scheduled Monument Roman road, though neither of the linear features discovered were either co-aligned or tangential to the Roman road. A visual impact assessment has determined that the potential indirect impacts of the proposed development upon the Scheduled Monument may be considered to be negligible, despite the high value of the asset.'