Monument record MDO18256 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Infant burial 1257

An infant burial was found against the eastern wall of the later Roman rectangular stone building 1611/1612 in Trench 4, during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. It was associated with three pottery vessels, but had been badly disturbed by later robbing activity. This burial was one of four infant burials associated with this building and was probably a foundation deposit.

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).

Infant burial 1257 lay against the eastern wall of Structure 1611/1612 in Trench 4. It had been heavily disturbed by medieval stone robbing and the grave survived only 0.1m deep and the burial of a new born child had been badly jumbled. It was associated with three pottery vessels. It was one of four infant burials associated with Building 1611/1612.

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(Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document).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C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document).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