Monument record MDO18234 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Roman town defences

The northern side of the rampart of the Roman town defences was exposed in Trench 5, during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. Three phases of construction were recognised: a primary chalk and turf bank, 5m wide and 1m high, marking the northern limit of the defences, sealed by the main bank of chalk rubble, which survived up to 2.2m high. No dating evidence was recovered from the initial phases of construction. After a period of erosion, a secondary clay bank was added to the rampart, perhaps in the 3rd century.

Found in Trench 5 during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1989 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2) (3) (4). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (4).

At the base of the trench, immediately overlying the pre-urban soil, an almost complete section across the primary chalk and turf bank [1533] was exposed. This was oriented roughly east-west and was about 5m wide and one metre high. It comprised alternate layers of chalk and turf and contained no finds other than a few residual flints. Its position suggests that it marked out the northern (inner) limit of the main rampart. It was sealed by the main rampart construction [1518] which extended southwards beyond the limits of the excavation. The northern edge of the main bank coincided approximately with that of the primary bank. This bank survived up to a height of 2.2m and was truncated by recent activity. The bank consisted of compacted chalk rubble with occasional chalk nodules. No turf lines were visible, though some banding within the chalk was discernable suggesting tip lines or stepped construction. No finds were recovered from this phase of the bank.

The chalk rampart [1518] was subject to a period of erosion with a number of layers forming to the north of the original tail of the bank. These erosion deposits contained 1st-2nd century pottery, animal bone, wall plaster, tile, shell etc.

The rampart appears to have been repaired with the addition of a secondary clay bank [1527] of reddish-brown clay with lenses of ash and chalk, which survives up to 1m thick and contains 2nd/3rd century AD pottery, animal bone, tile, and two copper alloy objects. The secondary clay bank may be associated with the construction of the stone wall which was built on the rampart during the 3rd or 4th century. The line of the wall must have been to the south of the excavated area.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 69 SE 324 (Index). SDO9937.

<1> Davies, S M and Farwell, D, 1989, Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9408.

<2> Adam, N J, Butterworth, C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9409.

<3> Davies, S M and Farwell, D E, 1989, 'Charles Street, Dorchester, Wessex Court Development', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO9414.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM