Monument record MDO18416 - Poundbury Late Roman Funerary enclosure R6

Ditched Funerary Enclosure R6 was found in the northwestern corner of Late Roman enclosure 4, on Site A of the 1966-1979 excavations at Poundbury. It lay immediately to the west of two similar ditched funerary enclosures R4 and R5. It comprised a ditch enclosing a square area containing a single grave containing the extended inhumation burial of a 50-year-old male in a wooden coffin. There was some suggestion of a series of postholes along the length of the ditch.

Found during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1979 during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report and archive (1)(2).

Ditched Funerary Enclosure R6 was found in the northwestern corner of Late Roman enclosure 4, on Site A. It lay immediately to the west of two similar ditched funerary enclosures R4 and R5. It comprised a flat-bottomed ditch enclosing a rectangular area of about 18 square metres. The ditch was 0.3m deep and 0.75m wide and contained two fills, a brown chalky loam over chalk rubble. Darker patches of soil noted at regular intervals in the lower fill were interpreted as rotted posts. Grave [41], aligned roughly E-W lay in the centre of the enclosure and contained an extended inhumation burial of a 50-year-old male in a wooden coffin with no grave goods. There was a step on the north side of the grave cut (1).

<1> Farwell, D E and Molleson, T I, 1993, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1980. Volume II: The Cemeteries, 51 (Monograph). SDO9538.

<2> Sparey Green, C, 1966-1979, Poundbury, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10096.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:26PM