SDO9501 - Dorchester, Culliford Road North. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society

Wessex Archaeology carried out a test-pitting evaluation on land at 'The Recluse;, Culliford Road North, Dorchester. Evaluation was undertaken in advance of the submission of a planning application for demolition of the existing buildings and residential develeopment of the site. Three test pits were hand excavated, with a fourth intrusion into what proved to be an area of hard standing, the remains of a former tennis court. Layers of mixed and disturbed material were identified below the turf and topsoil in the three test-pits, almost certainly indicative of one or more former ploughsoil. This material was found to overlie the natural chalk, itself pittedand disturbed by root action. One of the deposits, identified in test pit 1, contained finds dating to no later than the medieval period, and may represent an insitu medieval layer. A small assemblage of finds ranging from prehistoric flint to post-medieval ceramics was retrieved from the mixed deposits, suggesting repeated cultivation of the area over a considerable amount of time. A modern pipe trench and an additional linear feature, probably of natural origin, were identified in test-pit 2.