EDO4783 - Fordington Roman Inhumation Cemetery, Dorchester; site visit 1954

A site visit was conducted by J. Rigg of the Ordnance Survey Archaeological Division on the 15 July 1954 at the site of the Fordington Roman inhumation cemetery, Dorchester. His site notes are recorded in the OS record card as follows. [The site of 50 skeletons discovered in 1839 while lowering the hill of Fordington High Street], could not be sited and neither could the 1747 discoveries though [the 1839 site] probably falls between a point 100m NW of [the position of burials unearthed a little west of The Pound in 1788] and a point 50m SE of [the 1788 discoveries] where the road is well below the level of the houses to the west. According to [Hutchins (1863, 793) the position of the 1788 discoveries] is a little west of the Pound so that the 1747 discoveries would be in that area. Upon the evidence produced for [burials discovered at SY69769036 in the 1880's] and [two Romano-British burials found at SY69719033 circa. The 1930's], no case is made for extending the limits of the cemetery to include them. The sites are all covered by playing fields, buildings etc, and no recent finds have been reported. The graveyard around the church has long since ceased to be used for burials. The Roman tombstone is fixed to the interior N wall of the church.