EDO6503 - South Gate Junction improvements, Dorchester; observations and recording 2017

Archaeological observation and recording was carried out on behalf of Dorset Highways as part of road improvements in an area where the Dorchester Roman Walls Scheduled Ancient Monument was located and the South Gate thought to have been. The groundworks comprised trenches measuring 0.75m by 0.5m for new ducting, shallow stripping to 0.4m of grass verges and pavements and the digging of duct chambers measuring 1-2m deep. The observations were limited by the shallowness of the groundworks which were not fully recorded. The significant feature was the exposure in Trench 5 of probably part of the middle ditch of the Roman town defences together with two parts of the outer Roman ditch in Trench 6 and possibly Trench 3. No dating evidence was recovered.