EDO4776 - Site of the discovery of a Fragment of Roman mosaic, River Frome, Dorchester; field observation 1954

A site visit was conducted by J. Rigg of the Ordnance Survey Archaeological Division on the 26 August 1954 at the site of the discovery of a fragment of Roman mosaic in the River Frome below Poundbury Camp, Dorchester in 1899. His site notes are recorded in the OS record card as follows. No further information was obtained on this site. There were no finds. Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, information from a private 25" map, Moule MSS, and Dorset County Museum gathered at the same time is recorded in the OS record card as follows. Some years ago a boy, bathing here or hereabouts, found a little fragment of tessellated floor lying loose on the bed of the River Frome. At, or near the same spot, was found on an earlier occassion, a brass of Faustinia, corroded onto an iron nail. The floor fragment , 2" by 3", is composed of 35 tesserae, each less than 1/4" square. During a drought 35 years ago, the turf inside Poundbury Rings showed plainly the outlines of an oblong building 20 feet by 12 feet (see SY69SE63). It may have been modern, but may have been ancient, and the doubtful suggestion has been made that that it may have been a finely floored Roman shrine cleared for cultivation and the debris thrown down the banks, whence the above floor fragment found its way into the river.