Monument record MDO18101 - Old Methodist Chapel Roman Building 509

Found during the 1982 excavations at the Old Methodist Chapel, Dorchester. A building with stone footings on the west end of the northern frontage of the Greyhound Yard insula. The remains of a single rectangular room were exposed. A later stone footing butted against the northern side of this building.

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).

This building comprised parts of three wall footings [318, 326, 346] of flint rubble within footings trenches about 0.6m wide and 0.2m deep, defining a single room about 4m wide. To the south, the footings had been destroyed by later terracing and the building is likely to have continued beyond the edge of the excavated area. There were no surviving internal or external surfaces associated with this building. Finds from the footings trenches suggest a construction date in the late 3rd century AD

Immediately to the north of this building was another more substantial flint rubble footing [308/31]) in a trench about 0.9 m wide and 0.7 m deep. It lay immediately north of footing [326] but there was no clear sequential relationship between them, though [308/310] is thought to be later. It has a butt end to the east and extended about 6 m to the west, beyond the western extent of Building 509. The finds from this feature indicate a late 3rd-4th century AD date.

On the same line, further to the east of [308/310] was another remnant of an east-west wall along the street frontage [336]. This comprised footings of packed loam and chalk with some flint nodules and at least one limestone slab. This feature is stratigraphically isolated but may be contemporary with Buildings 509 and 367.

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at Greyhound Yard, and the Old Methodist Chapel (1982-1984): Interim and introductory notes to the current excavations (Unpublished document).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, 55 (Monograph). SDO9411.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM