Monument record MDO18349 - Dorset County Hospital Annexe, Somerleigh Road, Dorchester; Roman road

A 15m length of Roman street, aligned roughly N-S, was exposed during the construction of an annexe to the Dorset County Hospital in 1949. The road was constructed of flint and gravel metalling on a clay, flint and chalk base, with a ditch on the east side. The road had been remetalled in the mid-3rd century AD or later.

A length of Roman street, aligned roughly N-S, was exposed during the construction of an annexe to the Dorset County Hospital in 1949 and recorded by R. A. H. Farrar.

The street was traced for about 15m and the road metalling was visible in one complete and two partial sections in the foundation trenches for the new building. The road was about 6m wide and consisted of 'well-grouted' gravel and flints on a foundation comprising two layers of gravel and flints bedded in clay and separated by a layer of rammed chalk. The road was constructed a 0.1m thick layer of chalk rubble, perhaps the weathered surface of the natural chalk. A ditch or gutter with a rounded profile was found on the east side of the road. A number of ruts and pot-holes were visible and these had been repaired by a crude remetalling of loose flints, which can be dated to c. 330 AD or later by sherds of New Forest ware found sealed in the potholes.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 1430657 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Farrar, R A H, 1949, Dorchester, County Hospital, Somerleigh Road. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO9756.

Farrar, R A H, 1949, Dorset County Hospital Annexe (Excavation archive). SDO9996.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:29PM