EDO4291 - Southfield House, Dorchester, Engineering Test Pit 1.

Wessex Archaeology carried out a watching brief on eight test pits excavated by Wimpey Ltd in the garden of Southfield House in during February 1986. Pit 1, in the NW corner of the garden, showed natural chalk at a depth of 1.50m above which lay only a homogenous mid-brown graden type soil, probably of recent origin. Southfield House and gardens lie across the line of the southern defences of the Roman town of Durnovaria, close to the suggested site of the South Gate. Evidence from the test pits suggested that the main defensive ditches range in depth from 2m - 3m and that the distance from top of bank to base of ditch may be 10m-15m in each case. Pits 1 and 2 revealed natural chalk at a high level, possibly indicating a break in the defences and the position of the South Gate.