SDO9535 - Land North of Middle Farm, Bridport Road, Dorchester: Archaeological Evaluation

In May 1997 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by the Duch of Cornwall to undertake an archaeological field evaluation in connection with the proposed construction of new light industrial units, car parking and vehicular access at land to the north of Middle Farm, Bridport Road, Dorchester. The evaluation site (centred on OS Grid Ref. SY 674 903) comprised an area of c.2 hectares, and was investigated by 12 machine dug trenches totalling 560 square metres or 2.8% of the evaluation area. The field evaluation followed a desk-based assessment of the site that had established that, although no known archaeological features occurred within the site, there was a high potential for buried remains, particularly of prehistoric date. The evaluation revealed no features of prehistoric date, although Neolithic and Bronze Age worked flint and ten sherds of later Bronze Age pottery were recovered from the topsoil and subsoil during machining.