Monument record MDO18257 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Infant burial 1407

An infant burial was found cut into the edge of the footings for 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. 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 1407 was cut into the edge of the wall footings of the eastern wall of Structure 1611/1612 in Trench 4. The grave cut was oval, 0.43m by 0.18m across and 0.06m deep, cut into the edge of the wall footings and probably contemporary with Structure 1612. The burial was of a neonate in a crouched position on its left side with the head to the northwest. It is likely to have been a foundation deposit within Building 1611/1612. Three other burials were also associated with this Structure.

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(Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document).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C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document).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