EDO5603 - Kimmeridge village hall; evaluation 2008

AC Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation at the site of a proposed new village hall and museum in Kimmeridge. The works consisted of three machine-excavated trenches, one at the rear of the present village hall measuring 10 by 1.5m, and two of the same size on the site of the new hall, and the site of the museum. Two hand dug test pits were also placed at the front of the site, both measuring 1m². Trenches were de-turfed by hand before being excavated by the digger. Non ceramic finds from the sites consisted the following. A small number of clay tobacco pipe stems from the 18th/19th century from the topsoil. Animal bones from medieval contexts were found in trenches 4 and 5, while post-medieval glass fragments were found in both test pits. Three pieces of ceramic building material were located, and so was a Roman shale lathe core. A total of 160 (2.505kg) sherds of pottery were recovered from the site, ranging from medieval to post-medieval. Medieval pottery was predominantly from the 12th/13th century. A couple of pieces can be dated to the 10th and 11th centuries. 26 sherds of post-medieval pottery were found, all were locally produced wares, and had a date range of 17th to 19th century.