EDO4414 - Syward Road, Dorchester; salvage record

Workmen made the discovery of a skeleton during the digging of a one foot wide trench for a telephone cable in September 1955 during the building of private houses on the site, then known as Twenty Acre Field, now known as the Came View Estate. (1) The remains were found towards the SW corner of the field, just inside the west kerb of the pavement of the new road, where it bends northwards. The lower limbs were not exposed and probably lay beneath the pavement. Some of the bones were collected from spoil heaps by R. A. H. Farrar. Apparently a grave 2ft wide had been dug 1 ft deep into the natural chalk with vertical sides and aligned ENE (head)-WSW. Two fragments of late Roman pottery were recovered from the spoil heap and may have derived from the grave fill. The individual was a female aged 22-23 years [1]. The burial is one of several found in the area [2].