Monument record MDO18264 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Early Roman activity, Trench 6

Two ditches and an associated soil layer dating to the earliest Roman occupation of the site were found in Trench 6, during the 1990 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. One shallow ditch, oriented roughly E-W, had been recut and had two infant burials within its fill. The final phase of this ditch appeared to be associated with an extensive spread of clean soil. This may have been a drainage ditch. The other ditch was oriented roughly N-S and terminated within the trench, just south of the line of the E-W ditch and may have been a boundary ditch. A small quantity of 1st-2nd century pottery was recovered from the ditches.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1990 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1).

The earliest Roman activity in Trench 6 was represented by a shallow irregular ditch [2472], oriented roughly E-W, which was traced across the site for about 24m. It had a shallow rounded profile and measured about 1.3m wide and between 0.15-0.4m deep. It had been severely disturbed by later activity. There was evidence for an earlier ditch [2494] on its southern side, suggesting it had been recut. It was filled with fine brown soil with lenses of sandy soil. There was some evidence that the final filling of this ditch was associated with an extensive layer of clean silty clay [2428] to the north. This deposit was thought to have a water-borne origin, perhaps indicating the ditch was a drainage ditch, which had overflowed towards the end of its life. The ditch produced primarily 1st century AD pottery, with a small quantity of 2nd century AD pottery. Two infant burials [2464, 2480] were found in the fill of ditch [2472].

Ditch [2217] lay in the SW corner of the trench and was oriented roughly N-S. It was fairly large with a V-profile, which measured 1.7m wide and 1.4m deep. It terminated in a rounded terminal to the north. It was filled with a series of soil layers which contained 1st-2nd century AD pottery. The precise function of this ditch is unclear, but it was on almost the same line as a subsequent early Roman boundary wall, so may have functioned as a boundary ditch.

<1> Adam, N J, and Butterworth, C A, 1993, Excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1990. Volume 1: Text & Appendix I (Unpublished document). SDO191.

<2> Adam, N J, 1990, 'Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester, Interim Note on Stage 3, October-December 1990' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 115-7 (Article in serial). SDO9415.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431041 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM