Monument record MDO18097 - Old Methodist Chapel Roman Street 510

A Roman street running roughly east-west found in northwest corner of Methodist Chapel excavation in 1982. It was constructed pre-AD75, possibly pre-AD65. This street forms the northern limit of the Greyhound Yard insula.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1982 after the demolition of the South Street Methodist Chapel on the corner of South Street and Durngate Street, Dorchester. (1) The results of the excavation were published together with the results of the adjacent Greyhound Yard excavations. (2) The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the published report (2).

In the northern part of the excavation, a layer of coarse flint gravel 0.3 m thick [426] over a spread of chalk rubble 0.02m thick [433] formed the base of a road built directly on the pre-urban soils. The fine compacted gravel metalling of the road survived in two places and both areas had evidence for two successive periods of metalling. The road survived about 5.5m wide. The edge of the road may have been defined by a gully (ditch [439]) about 0.3 m wide and filled with red clay.

The date of the construction of the road base is pre-AD75and possibly pre-AD65 on Samian dating. There is no dating evidence for the second phase of road metalling. There is no direct dating evidence for the filling of Ditch [439
, but stratigraphically this is likely to be pre-AD75. The street itself is likely to have continued in use throughout the Roman period. There is no direct dating evidence for period of abandonment of this road.

Wessex Archaeology, 1982, Old Methodist Chapel excavation archive (Excavation archive). SDO9442.

Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Dorchester, Durnovaria: Excavations in the town centre at Greyhound Yard, and the Old Methodist Chapel (1982-1984): Interim and introductory notes to the current excavations (Unpublished document). SDO9435.

<1> Woodward, P J, 1982, Excavations at the South Street Methodist Chapel, Dorchester, 187-188 (Article in serial). SDO9436.

<2> Woodward, P J , Davies, S M , and Graham, A H, 1993, Excavations at the Old Methodist Chapel and Greyhound Yard, Dorchester, 1981-1984, 34 (Monograph). SDO9411.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM