Monument record MDO18271 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Western Courtyard and boundaries

A number of stone boundary walls defining part of a rectangular courtyard were found in the western part of Trench 6, during the 1990 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. The earliest walls were probably built in the 1st or 2nd century and may represent the eastern boundary wall to a property which lay to the west of the excavation trench. At some time, probably during the 2nd century AD the boundary wall was extended to enclose the early Roman timber Structure 1and define a rectangular courtyard. In the 3rd-4th century, one of the walls was rebuilt and two pits were dug within the courtyard area.

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) (3). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1)(3).

A number of walls were found in the western part of the trench and were originally thought to be part of a building, but have been subsequently interpreted as boundary walls, several of which define a rectangular courtyard, which originally enclosed the area of the Early Roman timber Structure 1.

The earliest wall in the sequence survived only as a robber trench [2379] aligned NE-SW, which produced 1st-2nd century AD pottery. The relationship of this wall with the later walls in the sequence is unclear.

The next wall in the sequence was a stone wall [2326] which ran N-S along the western edge of the excavation trench, before turning and running westwards at its southern end. This wall may have replaced the earlier robbed wall described above. It survived as two courses of pitched limestone blocks, 0.8m wide and 0.25m high. A number of sherds of 1st-2nd century pottery were found within this wall. It may be part of the boundary wall to a property which lay to the west, almost completely beyond the excavated area. Wall [2326] ran parallel with and 0.5m west of the Early Roman Timber Structure 1, but the chronological relationship between them is unclear.

Subsequently, another stone wall [2334] was built enclosing the east and south sides of Structure 1 and butting against wall [2326] to the south and then continuing further southwestwards beyond the trench. This wall comprised flint nodule footings 0.8m wide with a short length of mortared limestone wall surviving in the SW corner. Pottery of 2nd century AD date was found within the foundations. This wall may represent an enlargement of the property to the east, but the relationship with wall [2326] is unclear and it is uncertain whether the two walls were in use at the same time, though the excavators suggest that wall [2334] was built to replace wall [2326]. Wall [2334] was constructed after Structure 1 was built.

In the 3rd or 4th century AD a new wall [2164] was built on top of the remains of the earlier wall [2326]. This was 0.8m wide and consisted of a single foundation course of pitched limestone with fragments of mortared limestone block wall surviving on top. Pottery dating to 2nd and 3rd century AD was associated with this wall. It is assumed that Structure 1 had been demolished or had decayed before this wall was built.

Within the area defined by walls [2334] and [2164] were two late Roman domestic rubbish pits. Pit [2411] lay to the north and was only partly within the excavated area. It was 1.5m wide and 1.43m deep. It contained pottery dating from the 1st-3rd century AD and in the upper part had tile and mortar fragments. Pit [2174] lay further south and was subrectangular in shape and 2.45m deep. It was filled with dark greyish-brown clay loam soil with limestone flint and mortar debris and pottery dating from the 1st-5th century AD.

<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> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431041 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM