EDO4375 - Acland Road/ Charles Street Junction, Dorchester; observations and recording 1965

A surface drain trench dug in 1965 on the NW side of the road junction between Acland Road and Charles Street was observed by Christopher Sparey Green. The southern part of this drain trench was shallow and only modern deposits were encountered, but in the deeper northern end, Roman stratigraphy was observed at a depth of 0.9-1.2m below the pavement. In this northern part of the trench was a layer of grey ash with a layer of grey soil and black ash above, which produced a fragment of creamware mortarium of probable 2nd-3rd century AD date. This ash deposit was cut by a vertically-sided feature oriented roughly NE-SW, which was filled with dark soil containing flint, limestone and plaster rubble. The full dimensions of this feature were not exposed, but it was at least 0.4m wide and 0.3m deep. It was interpreted as a robber trench for a Roman building.