EWX1704 - Land adjacent to Bell Street, Herston, Swanage; evaluation 1996

An archaeological desk-based assessment and field evaluation were undertaken by Wessex Archaeology during March 1996 at land adjacent to Bell Street in advance of proposed residential development. An initial desk based assessment identified 27 sites within a study area of nine kilometre squares, centred on the proposal site. One site, medieval or post-medieval strip fields, lies within the south part of the proposal site, and survives as a series of low earthworks. Herston is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was part of a medieval manor. A further three sites, Iron Age and Roman occupation and burials, lie outside the south-east corner of the proposal area. A survey of map evidence also indicated a quarry (probably 19th-century) in the south-west part of the southern proposal field, and a shaft adjacent to Bell Street. Quarrying is likely to have damaged or removed archaeological deposits in the south part of the proposal area, though the exact extent is uncertain. Subsequent field evaluation, by the excavation of nine machine-cut trenches covering 2% of the proposal site, revealed evidence for prehistoric, Roman and later features. Evidence for Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker period activity (c.2600-1800 BC) was found in the south-west corner of the northern field within Trench 6. This consisted of a shallow, probably truncated, ditch and a post-hole. One other feature, not excavated, may be contemporaneous with ditch 606 and post-hole 604, as all these features were sealed by an apparently homogenous deposit of colluvium (hill-wash). The nature of the activity is uncertain, but the remains may represent some form of settlement. However, it is also possible that the remains could relate to some form of funerary structure such as a ring ditch. Settlements of this period are uncommon nationally. A small ditch of possible Romano-British date was discovered within Trench 5; this feature appears to be an isolated field boundary, and runs parallel to the later strip fields. The Beaker and possible Romano-British features were sealed by colluvium (hill-wash associated with arable cultivation). The date of the beginnings of colluviation is not known, though the earliest material found in it was a single sherd of Romano-British pottery from Trench 7. It is likely, on comparison with other areas of Dorset, that it originates in the earlier prehistoric period (perhaps the Early Bronze Age), but this cannot be substantiated. A small number of medieval pottery sherds were found in the topsoil in Trench 9, the material probably deriving from rubbish deposited during manuring of fields. The low density of medieval pottery is perhaps worthy of mention; more might have been expected in areas adjacent to a medieval hamlet. The remains of the medieval or post-medieval strip field cultivation, though clearly visible, are not very well-preserved, remaining as slight rises (old ground surface) between truncated hollows. However, the remains do not appear to have been eroded over the last thirty years in the period since the Royal Commission's survey. Information on the precise form of development is not presently available. However, general observations on potential impact can be made. In the northern part of the proposal site (around Trenches 5 and 6) Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (Beaker) features are present about 0.4m below present ground surface, possible Romano-British features about 0.6m below present surface. Groundworks deeper than c.0.3m are likely to affect these archaeological remains. In the southern arm of the proposed development area, any groundworks will have an impact on the remnant medieval/post medieval strip fields and lynchets, as they are surface features. [1]