EDO4848 - Dorset County Hospital Site, Princes Street, Dorchester; evaluation 1994 (Test Pit 4)

Wessex Archaeology carried out a field evaluation in the grounds of Dorset County Hospital, Princes Street, Dorchester, in February 1994. This work comprised 6 hand excavated test pits and an auger survey, the purpose of which was to provide additional information on the survival, nature and depth of any archaeological deposits within the area, to supplement previous fieldwork (1989) and a desk based assessment (1993). The test pits revealed Roman features in the western part of the area, adjacent to the mortuary (at about 69.8m OD) and in the north part behind Lime Tree House (at about 72m OD); deep modern overburden elsewhere may seal medieval or earlier deposits. The auger survey suggests that archaeological levels (predominately Roman) may survive in several parts of the site which are currently open. Potential for pre-Roman layers is indicated by the apparent presence of clay and silt layers overlying the chalk in auger holes in the north part, the central part and the southern part of the site. This potential cannot be fully assessed without larger scale work. Test Pit 4 was a 2x2m test pit located behind Lime Tree House. It contained a 0.8m deep build up of modern soils sealing an 18th-20th century pit. This pit cut a thin soil layer containing post-medieval and modern pottery which in turn lay above a layer containing 90% late Roman pottery with a few small, possibly intrusive, medieval and post-medieval/modern sherds. This layer also contained Roman roof tiles, tesserae and painted wall plaster and may represent soil built up above a late Roman destruction layer. This lower rubble layer sealed the base of a wall comprising horizontally laid tabular limestone slabs aligned N-S. Chalk lay directly below the rubble, suggesting that the site had been terraced prior to construction of the Roman building.