EDO4205 - South Court Stables, Culliford Road, Dorchester; observations and recording

H. J Moule inspected the foundations during the construction of the boundary wall and stables at South Court, Culliford Road, Dorchester, in January 1893. These foundations cut the outer ditch and the edge of the middle ditch of the Roman town defences. The drawn section shows the middle ditch as a V-shaped ditch about 49ft (14.9m) wide and 6ft (1.8m) deep, with the northern slope being much steeper than the southern edge, which was at about 15 degrees. Only the very southern edge of the middle ditch was observed, close to the edge of South Walks road. A sharp apex of chalk was visible in the section, about 48ft (14.6m) south of the bank of South Walks. The slope of the middle ditch was about 45 degrees. Moule thought that the ditch may have been rescarped since Roman times, perhaps as part of the Civil War defences, but there does not seem to be any real evidence for this. Moule describes the fill of the ditch as a “strange looking soil, like sandy pond mud or road scrapings”. “It is very curious that the same damp, gritty soil was found in the fossa at Rothesay House, Ingleside & Eglesfeld House, as Mr J. H. G. Gregory testifies.”