Monument record MDO18238 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Early Roman structure 1602

The remains of a probable early Roman rectangular timber building was found in Trench 1 during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. Only part of one wall of the structure was found (in the form of a beam slot) and it is unclear whether this was an external or internal wall. Within the interior to the south, a small patch of chalk flooring was found, together with a square stakehole setting and a pair of postholes, probably part of some internal structure.

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).

The fragmentary remains of a probable early Roman rectangular timber building were uncovered in the southwest corner of Trench 1. The only evidence for a wall was represented by a 0.3m wide slot [563], with a flat base 0.15m deep, which was traced for 4.5m in an E-W direction, was truncated by a modern cellar to the east and continued beyond the trench to the west. It is unclear whether this was an internal or external wall. The excavators suggest that it was an internal partition and that the building originally fronted on to a Roman street to the north or to the east. No trace of the other walls of this structure were found. To the south of the slot, within the interior of the building, was the remains of a chalk surface [603]. This floor was cut by a square setting of four small postholes or stakeholes [611, 613, 615, 617]. Immediately to the north of this setting was a pair of postholes [609, 621], 0.3m in diameter.

This structure has been dated to the early Roman period on stratigraphic grounds.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 69 SE 386 (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(Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document).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C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document).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