EDO5560 - Rear of the Police Station, Castle Road, Portland; observations and recording 2003 to 2004

A watching brief was carried out by Niall Oakey in advance of a development at the rear of the police station. The site lies at the western end of the Isle of Portland, with an area of 0.0049 hectares. All groundworks on the site for the development were carried out by mechanical excavator. These consisted of a series of rectangular pits along the eastern boundary of the site, measuring 1m by 2m. These were dug three at a time, observed, and then backfilled with concrete. This was allowed to set before intervening pits were dug and filled, making a continuous concrete foundation. An area of about 165m² was levelled on the site. Between 0.05m, and 1.20m of earth was removed across this area, and scanned for artefactual material. No evidence for land use of the site before being used by the Dorset Police Force has been found, documentarily or otherwise.