SWX8502 - Binnegar Estate, Worgret, Dorset: Archaeological Evaluation

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken during February 1993 of a c. 4.95 ha area within Binnegar Estate, Worgret, near Wareham (SY 8850 8750). The evaluation was commissioned by Drinkwater Sabey Ltd in advance of proposed mineral extraction on the site. The site lies on a low ridge of Plateau Gravel which overlooks the valleys of the Rivers Piddle and Frome. In the local area several archaeological monuments are known on this ridge including groups of Bronze Age burial mounds and also the so-called Battery Bank, a discontinuous linear earthwork, possibly of Roman date, which extends over some 5 km. The proposed development site lies immediately adjacent to a section of the Battery Bank which is a Scheduled Monument. Fourteen trial trenches were opened by machine, representing a 2% sample of the proposed development area. A small number of subsoil features were recorded and are interpreted as of agricultural origin but of no great antiquity. The only find was a single piece of burnt flint which cannot be assumed to be associated with former human activity. Overall the potential for preserved archaeological activity within the main site is gauged to be very low although the survival of localised and isolated deposits or features outside the areas examined cannot be discounted. The proposed haulage access to the site utilises an existing gap in the Battery Bank. Unless, therefore, it is proposed to widen the gap or disturb current ground levels in and around the gap (for which Scheduled Monument Consent would be required) the continued preservation of the monument should be ensured.