SDO17045 - Townsend Farm, Poyntington, Dorset. Report of Geophysical Survey and Excavations 2010-2011

'Geophysical survey and trial excavations were carried out at two fields Hanglands and Fairmile, at Townsend Farm, Poyntington, Dorset by SSARG during 2010 and early 2011.Gradiometry was carried out initially in a small area at the north end of Fairmile, where Romano-British pottery had been recovered from the surface by Mr Lewis. This small test area provided clear anomalies on a rectilinear alignment. However, due to timing with the crop rotation it was not possible to expand the area to examine the limits of the features. A limited ploughzone sampling exercise situated over the area surveyed produced minimal amounts of largely Romano-British pottery. This included at least one sherd associated with the very late (4-5th century AD) Black Burnished Ware industry. Geophysical survey was also carried out across the entirely of Hanglands as this was in pasture. Despite having been seriously affected by ploughing produced evidence of linear cut features and an extensive area of disturbance which included what appear to be curvilinear structures which may represent roundhouses. Test excavation was carried out positioned over three anomalies with the aim of locating and characterising the geophysical anomalies, understanding the quality, preservation and potential of the archaeological resource, and gaining some chronological understanding of the site. Trenches 1 and 2 successfully identified the features which they were positioned on, part of an enclosure ditch and a curvilinear gully respectively. The pottery recovered from these features was later prehistoric and LIA/RB. Both trenches demonstrated that ploughing had probably produced a degree of truncation of features. Trench 3 was positioned on a long north-south linear anomaly which ran along the break in slope on the eastern side of the field. This trench, on the slope contained much deeper hillwash deposits. No cut feature was recognised, but there appeared to be a terrace into the hillside with a slight build up of colluvial deposits above it, which corresponded with the geophysical anomaly.'