EDO6703 - Nappers House, West Walks, Dorchester; evaluation 2019

Evaluation by Terrain Archaeology in 2019 of a site proposed for additional almshouses, comprising the digging by machine of a trench in the south-east corner of the site. It was originally intended to dig a trench 15 metres long and 3m wide, with stepped sides to allow investigation of deeper levels, but this was reduced to a trench 6m long and 1.5m wide due to health and safety considerations. Work revealed Roman deposits on a truncated natural chalk bedrock sloping downwards to the east at depths from 2.8 to 3.2 metres below modern ground level. Finds recovered included Roman coarseware pottery and Roman ceramic roof tile. Above Roman levels a layer of dark soil was recorded consistent with prolonged medieval and post-medieval agriculture and horticulture in the south-west corner of the historic town. The remains of what may have been a 19th-century pathway was recorded and, above these layers of soil redeposited during the construction of Nappers House in 1957.