Site Event/Activity record EEM14744 - 2018: WB - New Ticket Office, Dunster Castle

Monitored groundworks comprised the creation of a terrace within the footprint of the new ticket office. A total of 21 augured pile pits were then excavated. A single feature representing a possible pit was exposed in one of the pile pits. It contained a dark grey silt fill with frequent charcoal inclusions. No finds were recovered and it was thought to be of post-medieval to modern origin. A small assemblage of 18th to 19th Century finds was recovered from topsoil and subsoil. This included 14 sherds of pottery (locally-made coarse glazed earthenware, industrially produced stonewares and white wares, blue-on-white transfer printed ware and flowerpot), four fragments of roofing pantile and a fragment of modern copper alloy sheet. This is broadly D-shaped with one original curving edge. Its original form cannot be discerned. Only limited exposure of the natural subsoil was achieved within the pile pits. A simple overlying sequence of subsoil and topsoil layers was encountered, which has been dated to the post-medieval period.