EDO4843 - Dorset County Hospital Site, Dorchester (Stage 1); evaluation 1989 (Trench E)

Wessex Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation on stage 1 (southern part) of the County Hospital Site during December 1989 in advance of planning permission being granted for redevelopment. Five small trenches were excavated, four (A-D) by hand, and one by machine (E). The results suggested that most of the area contains substantial Roman deposits under a late post-Medieval and modern overburden up to 1.5m thick. The roman remains include evidence for timber and stone buildings, at least some with mosaic or tessellated pavements, internal features like ovens, associated pits, wells, ditches and gullies. Features relating to the Roman defences include parts of the actual chalk ramparts and retaining wall. Trench E was aligned approximately E-W, 2m wide and 7m long. No datable finds were recovered. In the west end of the trench 0.3m of modern turf and topsoil lay above 0.9m of greyish-brown silty loam, which overlay 0.5m of redeposited chalk which petered out about 3m from the west end of the trench. A substantial wall footing, made of large flint nodules set in yellow sandy mortar, lay immediately east of the chalk. It was 0.8m wide and set in trench cut into the natural chalk. These deposits probably represent part of the chalk rampart of the Roman town defences and the rear retaining wall [1].