EDO4367 - Wadham House, High West Street, Dorchester; evaluation 1968 to 1969

Excavations behind Wadham House were conducted by Jo Draper for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works in December 1968 and January 1969 prior to redevelopment of the back garden. A trench 27.50m X 3.00m was dug E-W across the site and divided into five 6m lengths labelled Trench 1 to 5 from west to east. The excavations revealed a well stratified sequence of Roman structures. The earliest (apparently late 1st century) was a N-S street (street A) probably built alongside the enormous conduit of similar date. This was probably originally lined with masonry for its full depth of 4m. The conduit was robbed, and fills of chalk and ash accumulated in it, during the second half of the second century. Silt formed over this, and the surface was then remetalled (street B). Silt again accumulated, and the street was remetalled twice. At the same time, to the east, a large wall was built. Drainage gullies were dug either side of the street in the late 3rd century. These filled with silt, and then rubble was deposited over the street and gullies in the 4th century. A slot and post-hole were cut through this rubble, probably in the mid to later fourth century, and then another blanket of rubble was deposited over the whole area. At the western end of the site, the remains of a possibly Roman wall, a mid-4th century pit, and a late 3rd or early 4th century pit were found. Post-Roman features included a small N-S gully and a small out-building, the truncated remains of four pits, and a well.