EDO6595 - Phases 2-4, Curtis Fields, Chickerell, Weymouth; excavation 2018

Following previous trial trenching on the site which had identified medieval features, the trench known as Trench 8 was expanded by 5m to the north-west, (Area A). A further small trench measuring 15m by 2m near to the trench known as Trench 20 (Area B) was excavated to examine the condition and location of deposits. Excavation was carried out using a 360 degree tracked machine equipped with a toothless grading bucket to the level of archaeological features or natural geology. 28 features comprising ditches, gullies and pits could be assigned to the medieval period either stratigraphically or based on dateable finds from the fills. The activity of this date was all located in the main trench, Area A. It was not possible to produce a date range of usage however the earliest enclosure was represented by a series of ditches in a broad rectilinear plan in the western part of Area A and was identified as 13th and 14th century. A number of pits were examined with 9 appearing to date to the medieval period. Post-medieval structures and associated spreads of material were present in the southern part of Area A and in Area B. This included stone walls and were likely to relate to the farm buildings shown on 19th century maps. Pottery, flint, stone, metals, animal bone and charred wood and plant material were recovered from a number of cut features. The pottery was medieval, 13th and 14th century and found in 35 contexts. Those able to be identified were sherds from cooking vessels with possible jug fragments with ribbed neck decoration and some glazed sherds. The flint recovered from a variety of contexts dated from the Mesolithic or Early Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age but none of the features could be assigned to this period. The work confirmed the presence of medieval agricultural and domestic activity during the 13th and 14th centuries with no evidence of buildings of the period and no evidence of continuity through to the 19th century.