EDO4891 - Kings Arms Hotel, Christchurch; evaluation Trench 1

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by South Dorset Developments Ltd to undertake an archaeological evaluation on land to the rear of the Kings Arms Hotel, Christchurch, Dorset, prior to the end of September 2006. Four evaluation trenches, each 10m in length, were excavated, however due to discoveries on site and advice following a DCC monitoring visit, their layouts and extents were altered. Archaeological features were present in two of these trenches, dating to the post-medieval and modern period and containing no material of real archaeological significance. The area had previously been distrubed by levelling, specifically ground raising, and the canalisation of the river, now the millstream. The front, or supposed street frontage, of the site had been severely truncated by the insertion of modern services. The two trenches to the rear of the property were excavated to a depth of 2m and encountered made ground deposits to their full depth. Trench 1 was extended to ascertain whether this sequence of made ground continued and this was found to be the case. All trenches were machine excavated to the top of the archaeological horizons or the natural, which ever were encountered first. Identified archaeological remains were excavated by hand. Trench 1 was excavated parallel to Ducking Stool Lane at the northern end of the site. Uppermost in the sequence was a series of post-medieval and modern layers of made ground up to 1.6m deep, laid in order to build up the level of the ground west of the river. A modern NW-SE aligned wall footing cut the uppermost layer, possibly associated with a building on the 1939 OS map. Below the made ground deposits a layer of river-laid silty sand also contained modern 19th-20th century ceramics. The trench could not be excavated below this level due to waterlogging. The trench was extended to the west to determine the extent of the levelling up deposits and to see whether the Saxon Burh defences were present.