EDO4748 - Colliton Street, Dorchester; Trench 1

In September 1997 Wessex Archaeology undertook a watching brief on four machine-dug trenches dug as part of improvements to two WDDC car parks in Colliton Street. Very little time was available for the observations. Trench 1 was a rectangular trench aligned roughly E-W in the northeast corner of the eastern car park. It was 3.3m long, 0.8m wide and 1.02m deep. In the northern part of the trench only deposits associated with modern road make-up were exposed and in the eastern part the area was disturbed by the foundations of the adjacent walls. It was only in the SW part of the trench that relatively undisturbed stratigraphy was found. This comprised four layers of dark brown to greyish-brown silty loams with chalk and charcoal flecks, which lay directly on top of the natural chalk. These deposits were up to 0.6m thick and were undated.