EDO5749 - Excavations in St Peter's Church, Shaftesbury; salvage recording and excavation 1976

The Shaftesbury and District Archaeological Group conducted excavations at St Peter's Church during 1976, in advance of the re-laying of the undercroft floor and during works in the North Aisle. A large pit was revealed beneath the undercroft floor, cut by the south wall of the crypt. The homogenous fill of the pit was excavated in 10cm spits, altough there was no difference interms of quantity or date of artefacts recovered from each spit. In total 185 sherds of late Saxon pottery were recovered from the pit. Some post-medieval features were also noted. (1-4) In the north aisle a small trench was dug west of the east pier of the west bay of the north arcade to examine its foundations. The pier rests on floor tiles which overlie flagstones. Beneath the flagstones was part of a masonry pier of font base 0.52m x 0.52m, 0.3m high, with round shafts at each corner, separated by a roughly square-sectioned fillet. This stone is provisionally dated to the 12th century. The foundations of the opposite pier in the south arcade were examined and found to consist of laid blocks of cut stone 30 by 35cms lying in line with the arcade. (1)(3)