Monument record MDO18102 - Old Methodist Chapel Roman Building 367

Found during the 1982 excavations at the Old Methodist Chapel, Dorchester. A building with stone footings on the northern frontage of the Greyhound Yard insula, in its western half. Only part of this building was exposed during excavation and it comprised parts of four rectangular rooms. There were no contemporary internal or external surfaces. There was some evidence for later internal modifications of this building and for an extension to the southeast.

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).

Only part of this building lay within the excavation area. It lay immediately to the south of Street 510 and east of Building 509. The relationship to the street lay beyond the excavated area. The evidence for this building comprised parts of a number of flint rubble wall footings 0.6 m wide and surviving 0.25 m deep. The external walls were represented by footing trenches [362] along the south side of the building, [354/459] along the west side and [366] along the east side. The north side was not exposed. Internal walls were represented by footings trenches [497, 356 and 360]. Both the internal and external footings were all of one build. No surviving internal or external surfaces or deposits can be associated with this building. These footings suggest a range of three rooms measuring about 4.2m by 6m across. Not enough was exposed of the room(s) to the north to allow their number and size to be determined, but must have measured about 4m north-south.

There is some evidence for later internal modification of this building, with footings of similar size and construction within two of the rooms. In the western room there was a footings trench [352] running parallel to and one metre south of its north wall. This footing butted against the west wall of the room but cut across the east wall, butt-ending about 1m further to the east. In the central room, the remains of the east end of a footing [358] running parallel to and 0.5m north of the south wall was found. This footing butted against the east wall of the room. The size and location of these footings suggests that both may represent the addition of stairs to this building.

A later extension was also added to the south of Building 367. Butting against the original southeast corner of Building 367 was a more substantial 0.7 m deep footing of flint rubble with a band of rammed chalk within it [135]. This footing continued the line of the east wall of the building southwards. This wall was on the same line as a wall footing found during the 1955-6 excavations at Greyhound Yard. About 5 metres to the west was the remnant of another parallel wall footing [364], similar in size to the footings of the main building. The relationship between this footing and the main building had been destroyed so its relationship to Building 367 is not known.

This building is not well dated but is likely to be 3rd-4th century

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