EDO3728 - Dorford Baptist Church, Dorchester; evaluation 2002

Terrain Archaeology carried out an evaluation on the site of Dorford Baptist Church, Bridport Road, Dorchester during November 2003, prior to new building works extending the church. The site lies close to the postulated position of the West Gate of the Roman town on the line of the Roman town defences. Three trenches were excavated, one to the north of the church, adjacent to Bridport Road, one on the south side of the church and a test pit in the SW corner of the site. Part of a large ditch oriented roughly north-south was found to the south of the church. This may have been part of the ditched defences of the Roman town, or another large disturbance just outside the ditch. In the other two trenches, the remains of a substantial clay and chalk bank were exposed. This is probably part of the counterscarp bank of the defences.