Description

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Portland Gas Ltd. (hereafter ‘The Client’) to carry-out an archaeological evaluation of land along the route of a proposed gas pipeline linking an installation south of Mappowder, Dorset with a below-ground storage facility on Portland, and of four proposed associated infrastructure sites along the route (The Mappowder AGI Site, the Stafford Farm Brine Well Site and the Temporary Compounds and Pipe Storage Areas at Bourne Park and Chalky Road, Broadmayne, for which separate Planning Consents are sought from the Local Planning Authority).
A Planning Application for the proposed Pipeline and its associated infrastructure has been lodged with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and with Dorset County Council (DCC) for consideration, and both parties have requested than an archaeological evaluation be undertaken prior to determination of Planning Consent.
One-hundred and sixty six evaluation trenches (or significant trench additions) were excavated in fourteen separate pre-determined land blocks. Pre-modern archaeological features were found in forty one of the evaluation trenches.