EDO351 - Alton Lane, Cerne Abbas; evaluation 1998

Exeter Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation in October 1998 on the site of a proposed residential development by Hastoe Housing Association. A series of parallel earthwork banks approximately 20m apart and running N-S were visible in the field, more prominent in the north and relatively slight in the area of proposed development at the southern end of the field. The reverse-S plan of these earthworks and their regular spacing suggested they represented medieval ridge and furrow. Three trenches were excavated by machine and cleaned by hand. Trench 1 was 10m long and cut across the lower ground adjacent to and west of an earthwork ridge and furrow bank. Trench 2 was 10m long and cut across an earthwork ridge and furrow bank. Trench 3 was L-shaped, with each arm of 10m length, at the eastern edge of the development site close to a substantial bank. Trench 1 revealed no archaeological features with the natural chalk reached at 0.55m depth at the western end and 0.7m at the eastern end of the trench. Trench 2 revealed a stony bank containing abundant flints. The bank measured 4.5-5m wide at its base and ran N-S across the width of the trench. The bank sealed a buried soil layer containing frequent charcoal but no finds. The natural chalk lay at a depth of 1.4m. Trench 3 contained no archaeological features and the natural chalk was encountered at a depth of 0.5m in the south and 1m in the north west. Only five contexts contained finds, mostly pottery from the topsoil and subsoil, although Trench 2 produced some 13th-14th century pottery from the bank.