Monument record MDO18098 - Old Methodist Chapel Roman Culvert 440

A culvert running along the southern edge of Street 510, discovered during the Old Methodist Chapel, Dorchester excavations. Originally an open culvert dating to AD70-100 with a water pipe with iron collars laid within it c. AD100

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).

A square cut trench c. 1.0m wide and 0.4m deep which ran east-west, parallel to street [510], and cut through the southern edge of the street and the flanking ditch [439]. The base of the cut was stained green suggesting it was an open water culvert and it had a layer of silt at the base. Later a ?wooden water pipe with iron collars was inserted into this feature. The pipe had a diameter of c. 100mm and the iron collars were spaced about 1.4m apart. The feature was filled with layers of chalk and soil. The dating evidence suggests the culvert was dug about AD70 and the waterpipe was inserted at roughly AD100.

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at Greyhound Yard, and the Old Methodist Chapel (1982-1984): Interim and introductory notes to the current excavations (Unpublished document).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, 38 (Monograph). SDO9411.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM