Monument record MDO18254 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Later Roman structure 1611/1612

Structure 1611/1612 was a rectangular stone building set at right angles to the northern side of Roman road 1008 found in Trench 4 during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. The walls of this building were heavily robbed. A number of floor surfaces were found within the building: a sequence of chalk floors and occupation layers (containing 3rd-4th century pottery) in the northern end and flint cobbling covered in a crushed tile surface to the south, perhaps indicating some internal division of the structure. A ‘keyhole’ oven was found in the southern end of the building. Four infant burials were associated with this structure. The precise function of this building was not determined, but is thought to have been of a utilitarian nature.

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).

Structure 1611 was found in Trench 4 and comprised the remains of a rectangular stone building aligned roughly NE-SW at right angles to Roman road [1008], overlying earlier Roman structure 1605. The exposed remains were of a building 6m wide and over 17.5m long, set right on the northern side of the street frontage. The walls survived only as robber trenches, except for the northern part of the eastern wall which survived as a mortared flint footing 0.6m wide and 0.15m deep. A few limestone blocks were found on top of this footing, which may be the disturbed remains of the overlying stone wall.

This structure was rebuilt/replaced by Structure 1612, which was set back 1.5m from the street frontage, with a new south wall (surviving only as a robbing trench), but otherwise appears to have used the same footings as Structure 1611 for its east and west walls. A small length of unmortared limestone blocks was found overlying the footings on the western side, which may be part of the wall of this building.

A series of occupation deposits and features were found within these structures, but it is not possible to ascribe specific elements to either Structure 1611 or 1612 as a result of disturbance when the walls were robbed out. The flooring of this building differed in the northern and southern part of the structure, perhaps indicating some form of subdivision of the structure. To the south was a layer of flint cobbling overlain by a surface of compacted crushed tile to the south. This flooring was cut by an oven with a stokehole to the south. The oven was constructed of mortared limestone to form a ‘keyhole’ oven. Much of the oven and firing floor was disturbed by later robbing. Part of a second oven may have survived to the south, but this was uncertain as the area was heavily disturbed. The northern part of the building was less disturbed and a sequence of three chalk floors with occupation layers overlying them. 3rd-4th century AD pottery was recovered from these occupation deposits.

Four infant burials may be associated with Structure 1611/1612. Burial [1198] cut through the crushed tile and flint cobbling in the southern end of the building, immediately inside the line of the south wall of 1612. Burial [1466] was found adjacent to the west wall of Structure 1611, Burial [1257] was against the east wall and was associated with three pottery vessels and Burial [1407] was cut into the edge of the eastern wall footings near the northern end.

Five postholes were cut through the latest chalk floor. These may be part of some internal division or structure, but are not aligned on the orientation of the building. They may be part of some later structure and not associated with this building.

No evidence survived for the function of this building, though the nature of the floor surfaces and the presence of the oven may argue for a utilitarian function.

Immediately outside the northeastern part of Structure 1611 and 1612 was a well [1018]. This had a stone-lined shaft one metre in diameter set within a construction trench 3m in diameter. It was about 4.5m deep. A few sherds of 3rd-4th century pottery and two quern fragments were incorporated in the lining and the filling of the construction trench included some residual 2nd century pottery.

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