Monument record MDO18116 - Greyhound Yard, Roman Building 5449

The remains of a building with post-built walls in the southern half of the eastern frontage of the Greyhound Yard insula, discovered during the 1984 excavations by Wessex Archaeology at Greyhound Yard. Built along the west side of Street 5533, with a corridor or arcade to the rear, it may have formed part of a larger building complex with Building 5452.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1984 prior to the redevelopment of the area of the former Greyhound Yard. (1) The results of the excavation were published together with the results of the adjacent Old Methodist Chapel excavations. (2) The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the published report (2).

Building 5449 represents the primary activity in this area of the site. The eastern wall comprised a line of three postholes [5345, 5350, 5384] adjacent to the flanking ditch of Street 5533. These were set about one metre back from the edge of the street ditch and were about 0.5m deep with flint and limestone packing. The wall line was continued northwards by a deep slot [5372] with concentrations of flint, probably the remains of post packing. Running parallel, just to the east of this posthole line was an irregular shallow gully [5361] running north-south, which is probably the remains of a drip gully. A parallel line of postholes lay eight metres to the west. However, these postholes [5319, 5311, 5321] were much slighter and packed with tile fragments and do not appear to form part of a substantial wall. It is suggested by the excavators that there was originally another line of substantial posts along the line of a later stone wall (which totally destroyed the evidence for them). This would give a building about six metres wide running along the side of the street, with an external corridor or arcade supported by slighter posts, running along the rear of the structure. There are no surviving surfaces within this building which was severely disturbed by the construction of a later stone building on top. The excavators have postulated a raised timber floor.

A number of features were found within the area of this building but it is unclear whether these were contemporary. A shallow hollow [536]) lay close to the east wall, a shallow slot [5374] and a posthole [5377] lay in the southern part and a small rounded pit [5386] lay to the west. Pit [5386] had a compact clay loam fill within which was set the inverted neck of an amphora. The finds from this pit suggested a pre-AD75 date.

There was some evidence for alterations along the eastern frontage with a short slot [5352] running E-W with a posthole at its eastern end replacing posthole [5350] and another at its eastern end. Another posthole lay just to the east of the building about 1.4m further north. These features may be the remains of a porch and entranceway across the line of the flanking ditch [535]4 of Street 5533. There was also a scatter of postholes [5363, 5367, 5369] close to the edge of the road which may be of a similar date to Building 5449.

Immediately to the north of Building 5449 was another similar building [5452] and it is likely that they both formed part of a large building complex along the street frontage. However, Building 5449 appears to have been demolished in the later 1st century AD, considerably before Building 5452.

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.

Wessex Archaeology, 1984, Greyhound Yard, Dorchester excavation archive (Excavation archive). SDO9456.

<1> Woodward, P J , Davies, S M , and Graham, A H, 1984, Excavations at the Greyhound Yard Car Park, Dorchester, 1984, 99-106 (Article in serial). SDO9437.

<2> Woodward, P J , Davies, S M , and Graham, A H, 1993, Excavations at the Old Methodist Chapel and Greyhound Yard, Dorchester, 1981-1984, 39-41 (Monograph). SDO9411.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM