SDO12595 - An Archaeological Evaluation of a Proposed Residential Development on Land Adjoining 76 Ringwood Road, Verwood, Dorset

An archaeological evaluation of this site was carried out in July 1995. The investigation comprised a preliminary desk-based assessment, followed by the excavation of evaluation trenches amounting to c. 2% of the site. The desk-based assessment indicated that several pottery kiln sites were located in land to the south and east of the site (Blackhills area) in the later nineteenth century and at least three structures, possibly related to the pottery industry, were recorded within the development site. The location of the evaluation trenches was designed to investigate the presumed location of these former structures and to test otherwise negative parts of the site. No evidence for these structures could be found in the evaluation trenches although earlier disturbance in the south of the site may have removed any traces of at least one structure. It is reasonable to assume that these buildings may have been wooden and as a result have left little evidence. Several subsoil features were located in two of the evaluation trenches, one of which contained a moderate quality of Verwood pottery of later nineteenth-century date.