Monument record MDO18236 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Activity south of Roman Road 1008

A small area to the south of the Roman road running NE-SW across Trench 4, was investigated during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. There is no real evidence for buildings along this side of the street frontage in either the earlier or later Roman period. Activity is restricted to a small number of rubbish pits, a well and some chalk surfaces during the earlier Roman period and a garden soil appears to have developed across the area in the later Roman period with a small number of pits and gullies cut into it.

Found 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).

Roman road 1008 ran diagonally across Trench 4 from NE-SW. The small area exposed to the south of this road did not contain clear evidence for the presence of buildings on the immediate frontage. A range of pits, postholes, and gullies attests to some activity along the edge of the Roman street during both the early and late Roman periods, though the precise nature of this activity is difficult to define in such a small area.

A number of features have been ascribed to the early Roman phase (pre-AD200) (including two pits, a gully, a posthole and a well), together with several layers (including a crushed chalk surface) which contain 1st century material. The presence of a posthole and the chalk surface may indicate the presence of a structure on the street frontage, but it is equally possible that the surfaces were part of a yard and associated with pits [1223] and [1471]. Pit [1223] was approximately circular with a diameter of about 2m. It was not excavated but was sealed by 1st/2nd century AD deposits. Pit [1471] was a subrectangular pit about 2m across and filled with considerable quantities of refuse including 1st/2nd century pottery, animal bone, shell, glass, and tile. At the southern end of the trench, about 8m from the street frontage was a well [1013] with a circular shaft 0.7m in diameter and almost 6m deep. The upper part of the well measured about 2m across and was filled with deposits containing 3rd/4th century AD finds.

During the later Roman period (c. AD200-400+) a garden soil containing 3rd/4th century AD pottery, animal bone, etc, developed over this area. Two small pits [1189], [1191] were found about 3m south of the road. Both were filled with dark grey-brown soil and neither contained datable material. Immediately south of these pits was a gully [1179], 1m wide and 0.6m deep, running roughly parallel to the road. A pair of copper alloy tweezers was recovered from the gully. It was cut by another pit [1180], about 3m by 1.2m across and 0.8m deep, which did not contain any datable material. The pits and gully were cut by another gully [1126] running roughly parallel to the road, 0.4m wide and 0.3m deep, filled with grey-brown soil containing 3rd/4th century pottery, animal bone, tile, shell, and limestone fragments. The general impression gained is that this side of the street frontage area was not a focus for significant activity during the later Roman period.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431039 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<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