Monument record MDO18225 - Cooper's Cookers, Grove Trading Estate; Roman burial, Grave 320

The extreme eastern end of a rectangular grave cut was seen during a watching brief at Cooper's Cookers, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester during a watching brief undertaken by Terrain Archaeology in 2002. Only a very small part of the grave was exposed and no human bone was observed but the grave appeared to be of a similar size, fill and orientation to another burial just to the south, foud during the same watching brief. No dating evidence was recovered, but the large number of Roman burials which have been found in the vicinity suggest that this burial also dates to the Roman period.

The east end of a possible Roman grave was recorded during a watching brief at Cooper's Cookers, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester during a watching brief undertaken by Terrain Archaeology in 2002 (1) (2). The numbers in square brackets refer to context numbers quoted in the report (2).

The extreme eastern end of a rectangular grave cut [320] cut into the natural chalk was exposed in the western side of Trench 3. It was of a similar size, shap, orientation and fill to Grave [314] which lay about 7.25m further south. No human bone was exposed in this feature, which remains largely unexcavated. No dating evidence was recovered, but the form of this feature suggests that it is an extended Roman inhumation burial, similar to a large number of Roman burials which have been previously found in the vicinity (4).

<1> Tatler, S, Bellamy, P, and Montague, R, 2002, Units 1-3, Cooper’s Cookers, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Observations and Recording (Unpublished document). SDO9506.

<2> Bellamy, P S, 2003, Dorchester, Cooper's Wholesale, The Grove. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society, 164 (Article in serial). SDO9505.

<3> Farwell, D E, 1997, Coopers Wholesale, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester: Preliminary Archaeological Desk-based Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO9504.

<4> Farwell, D E and Molleson, T I, 1993, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1980. Volume II: The Cemeteries (Monograph). SDO9538.

Record last edited

May 2 2012 4:01AM