EDO4369 - Glyde Path Road, Dorchester; excavations 1966 Trench 2

Excavation prior to the development of Glyde Court was undertaken on behalf of the DNHAS in July 1966. Two trenches were excavated. Trench 2 was over a Late Roman building (Building 2) which was first exposed and excavated in 1880 (1). The overburden was removed down onto the remains of the Roman building, but was not excavated down to the top of the natural chalk, so it is unclear what earlier phases of activity may have been present on the site. Building 2 was excavated to the west of Building 1 and was on an identical alignment with it. Three rooms were exposed, but its extent to the west was not defined. This building had, with the exception of the N-E corner which was then beneath a path, been excavated by Hogg in 1880. The walls were primarily of stone, a gap in the east wall may be a door, the flooring material of the building is not known. Many fragments of coloured wall plaster were found, some patterned. A pit was found to the north of the NE corner of the building, filled with building and domestic material, this may represent a modern sump filled with debris uncoverd during digging of the garden. Part of a wall with ochre plaster, and the top of a well were found c.25m from Glyde Path Road, by builders after the excavation had finished, but no plan or detail survives. The wall probably belonged to Building 2, and the well was that found by Hogg in 1880 (1).