EDO1427 - The Barracks, Bridport Road, Dorchester; observations and recording 1991

A watching brief was maintained by Richard McDonnell for BUFAU in March 1991 in advance of road realignment and car park rearrangement. Three areas of shallow excavation to the south east of the Little Keep (Trenches A-C) were observed. In the area between the trenches, about 10m to the south of the Little Keep, there are apparently two vast underground water storage tanks oriented NE-SW, which occupy an area roughly 35m by 10m. These tanks are thought to have been installed during the Second World War. In the southern trench (Trench A), the surface of the earlier parade ground was exposed and excavation ceased at this level. The two trenches adjacent to the Little Keep (B and C) were cut through disturbed ground, with a large number of services. The only features exposed were parts of the construction trench for the walls of the Little Keep, which was built in 1865-6..