When the Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group was formed six years ago the first meeting determined that this was not to be a hobby society. The word ‘community’ in our title indicated that our main aim was to engage and recruit the people in our excavations wherever we found ourselves working on archaeological sites.

It was the local people of Stalbridge who suggested that we excavated a large house which had once stood in Stalbridge Park. Stalbridge History Society members knew that the house had been owned by Robert Boyle, the famous 17th century scientist and lastly by the 2nd Earl of Uxbridge (later Marquis of Angelsey) who had it knocked down in the 1820s. They decided that they needed some new substantial evidence of the nature of this structure that could only be answered by archaeology. Our first job was to undertake a geophysical survey to see what remained under the grass. The results were quite dramatic. It could be said with some certainty that we had the layout of the foundations of the house! Some of the questions we needed answering when planning the excavation included its exact location, the possible existence of surviving foundations and artefacts and, most importantly, exactly how big was this supposed ‘fifth largest house in Dorset’.

In 2018 and 2019, guided by the geophysics, we opened up trenches on one of the corners of the house and one of the entrances and were pleased to find that substantial foundation stones still lay in place. We planned to dig other corners in future seasons so that we could then join the dots and establish the size of the house. But archaeology can throw up all kinds of surprises and this site produced a large stone drain running the length of the foundation wall we uncovered on what would have been the southeast facing elevation. It would have allowed substantial amounts of water to flow from the house down the hill and then into a pond next to the gated entrance to the estate. Another surprise was under a square ‘parch mark’ of dry grass. This turned out to be a large well in its own stone structure.

The well structure did bring with it a problem. It was within the footprint of the house, which meant that it either stood within the house, or built after the house was demolished. Many houses have wells in the scullery
attached to a
hand pump, as one veteran villager told us. But it seemed illogical to have a structure within a house.

For the first time we now looked to the centre of the building and once again guided by the geophysics we opened a trench and were pleased to find a surface of cobbles with nice neat shallow drains, as one sees in many large houses with courtyards. This could also answer the well question, in that there was probably a gap or open entrance in the south west elevation of the building allowing access into this courtyard with the well situated next to it. To round off the digs we have open days of talks and walks and members of both groups can see the fabric of the house, not seen for 200 years. One talk was entitled ‘The Life & Death of Stalbridge House’ and we like to think that thearchaeological excavations of the last two years mean that Stalbridge House has been ‘reborn’. It is a resurrection that will be of great interest and fascination for locals and visitors into the future. Anyone who wants to join the group (£12pa), can email Chris at tripp.chris60@ gmail.com or look for Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group’s Facebook and Blog pages.

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