EDO4806 - Dorchester Middle School, Coburg Road, Dorchester

Between May 1998 and May 1999, AC archaeology carried out an excavation and a series of watching briefs during works on Dorchester Middle School (1). Five areas (Trenches 1-5) were investigated. No post-excavation work has been done on this site, which remains unpublished. The brief description below is based on information contained within the excavation archive (2). Trench 1 was a watching brief undertaken during the digging of a trench for a water pipe to a mobile classroom to the southwest of the main school buildings. A single undated feature was observed. Trench 2 was a watching brief undertaken on a pipe trench between the mobile classroom and the school buildings. A single burial was Beaker burial was found and excavated. Trench 3 was an area excavation in the school playing fields proposed for new hard surface sports pitch. A large number of archaeological features were exposed. In the northern part of the site, the majority of a hengiform monument comprising an oval ring of pits with a series of larger pits around the perimeter was found. To the southwest was an isolated early Neolithic pit and to the southeast was an undated grave containing a crouched inhumation. An L-shaped Roman boundary ditch was also found. The area was disturbed by a number of World War II slit trenches. Trench 4 was a watching brief undertaken on an area immediately to the west of the main school buildings. Only natural features were observed. Trench 5 was a watching brief undertaken during the construction of a new school extension to the north of the east end of the existing school buildings. Three undated N-S ditches were recorded.