Castle View, Old Castle Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire - Report for Archaeological Strip, Map and Record

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological strip, map and record (SMR) excavation on currently undeveloped land located to the rear of Castle View Rest Home, 8 Old Castle Road, Salisbury.

The stratigraphy across the SMR area consisted of a shallow garden topsoil below which was a shallow subsoil most likely derived from hillwash / colluvium related material. The natural geology consisted of weathered chalk; no periglacial stripes were present. The location of the SMR lies within an area rich in archaeology of all periods, particular lying within the vicinity of Old Sarum, so had the potential to reveal significant archaeology. However, only one archaeological feature was encountered, which was a single north west to south east aligned ditch,
from which two sherds of medieval pottery, and fragments of animal bone were recovered. Although the pottery does not establish a definitive date for the feature, it would indicate a medieval date or later. It’s orientation clearly indicates that it is not associated with the modern day orientation of property boundaries and is not identified on historic mapping.