EDO4396 - 4 and 5 Princes Street, Dorchester; observations and recording 1958

In November 1958, while digging drains and foundations for a new hospital building on the site of the demolished houses 4 and 5 Princes Street (SY 69119063), workmen discovered some sherds of Romano-British coarse black pottery (DCM 1958.55). A portion of Kimmeridge shale table leg, possibly decorated with a Griffin's head, was recovered from the spoil heap. The majority of the foundations for the new building were laid on the site of gardens for the previous houses (69119062). These gardens had been raised at some time by the addition of several feet of soil. However, the excavations did show a v-shaped trench cut into the chalk in the SW corner of the main foundation for the new building, but there was no indication of its date.