SWX8657 - Archaeological Observations at: Sunseeker's Boatyard, New Quay Road, Hamworthy, Poole

Report presents the results of a programme of archaeological observations and recording during the installation of a pontoon dock. The pontoon was to occupy a rectangular area 22 metres x 8 metres, extending to and breaching the harbour wall. The depth of the excavation was intended to be 4.7 metres below the present ground level in the range of +1.9metres Ordnance Datum to -2.8 metres Ordnance Datum. As the Highest Astronomical Tide level for Poole is at 1.67 metres OD these levels are largely within the intertidal range. The upper levels of the excavation were extensively disturbed and this corresponds to the dock that was backfilled prior to the development. It seems probable that the stone wall observed was part of this dock and that it is of 18th/19th century date. The oyster shell layer appears to correlate with that observed at the Shipwright’s Arms site. The find of apparently Saxo-Norman pottery is important in being the first artefactual evidence from the Poole oyster middens it is not, however, securely stratified. In general it appears that the development took place3 without significant damage to the archaeological resource