Monument record MDO18148 - Greyhound Yard, Roman enclosure 5541

Enclosure 5541 lay in the northern half of the central area of the insula investigated by the 1984 excavations at Greyhound Yard. It lay to the north of enclosure 5519 and replaced the earlier enclosure 5537. A number of cess pits were found along its south and east boundaries. It was probably an open yard behind the street frontages and was used for disposal of cess and was in use during the second half of the second century.

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).

This enclosure lay in the northeast part of the central area of the Greyhound Yard insula. The evidence for its boundaries was limited and its precise extent is unknown. Its eastern side was defined by a line of three postholes [2716, 2796, 2975], on the same line as the eastern side of Enclosure 5519 to the south. The southern side was defined by a line of three postholes with limestone packing [3177, 3171, 3173] which divided Enclosures 5541 and 5519. There was no physical evidence for the northern and western boundaries.

A number of cess pits were found along the eastern and southern sides of the enclosure. Along the eastern side there were four cess pits [5536, 5535, 5534, 2258]. Pit [5536] lay to the north on the eastern side and was a subrectangular vertical shaft about 4m deep. The primary fills were green-grey cess and contained late 2nd century pottery and bone. Above this were layers of brown soil and chalk rubble. Pit [5535] lay to the south of pit [5536] and was similar in size, shape and fill. The pottery was of a similar date to pit [5536] and some sherds from the secondary fill of [5535] joined sherds in the primary fill of [5536]. Just to the east of pit [5535] was another similar pit [5534], identical in size and shape. The lower fills were interleaved bands of clay and clean chalk rubble and included some late 2nd century pottery. Pits [5534, 5535, and 5536] may have been replacements for each other, perhaps with [5536] being the earliest, and [5534] the latest. To the south of these pits was another rectangular vertical shaft [2258]. This was not fully excavated and the upper fills contained 2nd century pottery.

In the southeast corner was a large vertical-sided, possibly originally square shaft [1336]. It was not fully excavated. To the west along the south side of the enclosure was a rectangular vertical sided shaft [2164] about 2.6m deep. It was filled with two layers of organic clay with rubbly loam above. The upper fill contained a large quantity of late 2nd century pottery and a large quantity of animal bone, including parts of at least eleven dogs. Further west was another vertical-sided rectangular shaft [1425]. The lower fills were bands of green-grey clay separated by bands of chalk rubble and some of these layers contained large quantities of pottery of later 2nd century date. A large quantity of animal bone was also found in this pit including the remains of at least 20 dogs.

Enclosure 5541 was probably an open yard behind the frontages was partly used for the disposal of cess. The date of creation of this enclosure is not certain, but the finds from the pits suggest they were in use during the second half of the 2nd century.

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, 53-54 (Monograph). SDO9411.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:27PM