SWX8455 - Sutton Poyntz Supply Main, Museum of the Water Industry, Sutton Poyntz, Dorset. May 2003.

A limited programme of archaeological investigation and recording work was carried out in connection with the excavation of a trench for the installation of a new meter on an existing water supply main. The work was carried out within the grounds of Wessex Water’s Museum of the Water Industry, Sutton Poyntz, Dorset and the trench was centred on NGR SY 370606 083933. Contractors had halted groundworks following the exposure of potentially in situ masonry. Wessex Archaeology was contacted and commissioned to attend the site and provide advice on the nature of the masonry. Limited hand cleaning within the current trench demonstrated the presence of an irregularly-set stone feature. This comprised of large, tabular (but not dressed) pieces of limestone, sometimes flat or set near-vertically. Smaller limestone rubble infill was present in places, and at the southern end of the trench the stones were set in a pale brown, chalky, clay matrix. The feature was seen principally in side elevation, and no measurements of its width or plan shape were possible.