EDO6492 - Normandy and Kohima, School Lane, Dorchester; evaluation 2018

An evaluation comprising the machine-excavation of three trenches. Trench 1, 7.85m by 1.6m, in the garden of Kohima and Trenches 2 and 3, 5.75m by 1.95m and 4.05m by 1.35m, in the garden of Normandy. Worked flint waste of probable Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date, sealed by the counterscarp bank of the Roman town defences. Part of the eastern edge of the outer ditch was found in Trench 1. Substantial remains of a dumped chalk counterscarp bank was revealed in Trenches 2 and 3. In the latter it measured 0.95m high and 13.5m wide and was constructed directly on the old ground surface. Trench 3 revealed the robbed out remains of an E-W mortared limestone wall cut into the bank and in line with the demolished south wall of the nave of the former Christ Church. A buttress of the same construction as the wall was recorded in the north east corner of Trench 2, also cut into the bank. A brick culvert with tile base and stone capping was recorded in Trench 3, lying south of the wall, and thought likely to be associated with the church, as were several other features of uncertain nature. A small assemblage of post-medieval/modern pottery was collected from Trench 1.