SDO11458 - Chantry Fields, Gillingham, Dorset. Archaeological Excavation.

In August 1995 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by J S Bloor (Newbury) Limited to carry out a programme of archaeological investigation at Chantry Fields, Gillingham. The fieldwork was undertaken between August 1995 and February 1996 prior to the residential development of the site. Chantry Fields comprises an area of approximately 10 hectares, spanning two plots of land to the west and east of the Gillingham Relief Road. The present work comprised the archaeological investigation of a number of trenches within a series of earthworks in the west of Chantry Fields covering an area of c. 2 ha (centred on ST 805 263). Previous archaeological investigation in the east of Chantry Fields has established that the earthworks were mainly of medieval date and they comprised the remnants of a field system. Material of prehistoric and roman date was also recovered as well as two well-preserved ovens of Middle Saxon (late 7th/early 8th century) date. The most significant find of the present investigations in the west of Chantry Fields was the recovery of a small quantity of Bronze Age (2,000 - 700 BC) pottery from features in the south-west of the site. Material from this period has not previously been identified from work in Chantry Fields. No features or finds were recovered that were contemporaneous with the Middle Saxon ovens excavated along the route of the Gillingham Relief Road in 1990 (Heaton 1992). The majority of the features recorded comprised ditches certainly or probably of medieval date. The majority of these features corresponded to the alignment of features visible on the surface as earthworks and support the interpretation that they represent the remnants of a field system. Little artefactual or structural evidence was recorded from the ditches to suggest the presence of associated settlement activity in the vicinity which was probably located somewhere to the north and east of the Relief Road.