Land Off High Street Puddletown Dorset
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Land off High Street Puddletown Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief for Wyatt homes CA Project: 770697 CA Report: 770697.1 February 2019 Land off High Street Puddletown Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief CA Project: 770697 CA Report: 770697.1 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 26/02/19 Joe Whelan Oliver Good Internal General Edit Richard review Greatorex This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 3 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 4 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 5 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2 - 4) ....................................................................................... 5 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 6 8. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 6 9. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 7 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 8 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS .............................................................................................. 9 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Watching Brief location plan (1:500) Fig. 3 Ditch 103 Section drawing and photograph (1:20) Fig. 4 View of Ditch 103 from South 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief SUMMARY Project Name: Land off High Street, Location: Puddletown, Dorset NGR: 375624 094309 Type: Watching Brief Date: 6 - 8 February 2019 Planning Reference: WD/D/16/000758 Location of Archive: Dorset County Museum Site Code: HSPU 19 An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during groundworks associated with the development of 7 new dwellings on Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset. A single undated ditch was observed. This feature likely represents a medieval or post medieval property boundary running south from the High Street. Two worked flint flakes and a fragment of prehistoric pottery were additionally recovered from the topsoil during the stripping. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In February 2109 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological watching brief for Wyatt Homes on Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset (centred at NGR: 375624 094309; Fig. 1). The watching brief was undertaken to fulfil a condition attached to a planning consent for the development of 7 dwellings (Planning ref: (WD/D/16/000758). 1.2 The watching brief was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2018) and approved by the LPA acting on the advice of Steve Wallis. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance: Archaeological watching brief (CIfA 2014). The site 1.3 The proposed development area is approximately 0.3ha, and comprises of a disused scrub land and former gardens located immediately to the south of 17 to 31 the High Street, Puddletown. The site is bounded by a playing field to the south and houses to the north, east and west. The site lies at approximately 70m above Ordnance Datum (aOD), with the ground level sloping down to the north. 1.4 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as Chalk, a sedimentary bedrock formed approximately 72 to 84 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. The superficial deposits on site are mapped as Clay, Silt, Sand and Gravel formed up to 3 million years ago in the Quaternary Period (BGS, 2018). 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND Prehistoric 2.1 Evidence for prehistoric activity in the surrounding area is represented by a large number of Bronze Age round barrows on the higher ground overlooking the Piddle Valley (Hearne and Birbeck 1999). Archaeological excavations during the construction of the Tolpuddle to Puddletown bypass revealed evidence of localised Bronze Age settlement activity at Lower Eweleaze and at Home Farm (Hearne and 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief Birbeck 1999). Both sites were located 1km and 1.5km to the north-east of the site respectively. Roman 2.2 Evidence for the Roman period in the area comes from the excavations of a Roman villa at Druce Farm, 1.3km to the north-west of the site and the scheduled Roman road 1.2km to the south. Although dating for the Villa puts its construction to some point in the 2nd Century AD (Ladle and Morgan 2015) occupation at the site appears to have continued into 6th Century AD. The villa consisted of 3 separate buildings or wings surrounding a court yard. Its relatively close proximity to Puddletown means that any Roman features that may exist on the current site may well be associated with the Villa. 2.3 Located 1.3km to the south of the site is the projected line of a Roman road thought to have run between Dorchester and Badbury Rings. Where this runs through Puddletown forest to the south-west it has been listed as a scheduled Ancient Monument (List entry Number: 1004562). Medieval – Post Medieval 2.4 Puddletown is listed in the Domesday Book as a large important manor that consisted of several small villages. All the small settlements recorded have either diminished or disappeared with the exception of Puddletown itself. Located 1km to the north-east of the site is the deserted medieval village of Bardolfeston. The village is thought to have gone into decline in the 14th Century before being completely abandoned in the 17th Century (List entry Number: 1002435). Located 1km to the north-west of the site is the deserted village of Waterston which was abandoned in the later 17th Century and consisted of several dwellings and associated water meadows (List entry Number: 1017263). 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 3.1 The objectives of the archaeological works were: to monitor groundworks, and to identify, investigate and record all significant buried archaeological deposits revealed on the site during the course of the development. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief at the conclusion of the project, to produce an integrated archive for the project work and a report setting out the results of the project and the archaeological conclusions that can be drawn from the recorded data. 4. METHODOLOGY 4.1 The fieldwork followed the methodology set out within the WSI (CA 2018). An archaeologist was present during groundworks which comprised the stripping of topsoil, subsoil and modern surfaces that overlaid the natural substrate (Fig.2). The site was divided into two areas (north and south), these being seperated by a small area which was not stripped due to the presence of an existing boundary wall with overhead and buried services also being present. The observed ditch was noted as continuing within both areas. 4.2 Where archaeological deposits were encountered written, graphic and photographic records were compiled in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual. 4.3 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their offices in Andover. Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner the artefacts will be deposited with Dorset County Museum along with the site archive. A summary of information from this project, set out within Appendix C will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain. 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2 - 4) 5.1 The natural geological substrate (102) which consisted of chalk with localised patches of yellow brown chalky clay was revealed across the site at an average depth of 0.45m below present ground level. This was overlain by a yellow brown silty clay subsoil (101) averaging 0.15m in depth, which was in turn sealed by topsoil, a grey brown clay silt up to 0.32m in depth. 5.2 In addition to areas of modern disturbance a single steep sided, flat bottomed ditch (103) was recorded running across site on a north-east / south-west orientation. The ditch which ran deeper to the north (downhill) measured at least 68m in length by 1.04m in width and a maximum depth of 0.51m. The two undated fills consisted of a grey brown clay silt (104), with rare chalk inclusions up to 0.31m in depth which 5 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off High Street, Puddletown, Dorset Archaeological Watching Brief sealed a primary fill composed of redeposited chalk pieces in a fine clay silt 0.20m in depth. 6. THE FINDS 6.1 Artefactual