EDO3925 - Land to the West of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester; Evaluation Trench 2

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land to the west of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester, in advance of the proposed Phase II Poundbury development. The site was known to contain three undated linear cropmarks and a postulated post-medieval chalk pit. Twenty-three machine-excavated trenches were investigated, each measuring at least 1.8m x 30m and totalling c. 1296 square metres. Trench 2 was 30.5m long and oriented E-W, to the northwest of Poundbury Farm. Clay-with-flint natural subsoil was encountered at a depth of 0.25m below ground level. Two features were exposed. A post-medievall chalk pit, 20m in diameter and backfilled with domestic rubbish dating to the 1930s was found at the western end. A probable tree hole was recorded further east in the trench.