Monument record MDO18436 - Poundbury Post-Roman pit group vii

Post-Roman pit group vii was discovered at the northern end of Site E, during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. It comprised six shallow hollows filled with chalky soil, immediately southeast of building PR12. The function of these pits is not clear. Pit group vii (together with structures PR11 and PR12, pit group vi and grain drier 4) formed a small settlement in the northern end of the earlier post-Roman enclosure and probably dating to the 5th century AD.

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 excavation report and archive (1)(2). Further refinement of the post-Roman settlement sequence has been undertaken by Christopher Sparey Green since the initial publication of the site and this has been taken into account in the following description (3).

Post-Roman pit group vii comprised six pits and lay immediately SE of post-built structure PR12. The pits were no more than shallow scoops or eroded hollows filled with chalky soil. Their function is unclear, perhaps they were quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production.

Pit group vii was assigned to phase VA in the original monograph publication (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this structure was assigned, along with PR11 and PR12, grain drier 4 and pit group vi, to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement, to the north of the main cemetery and possibly contemporary with the latest phase of burial (3).

<1> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements (Monograph). SDO9630.

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

<3> Sparey Green, C J, 1996, Poundbury, Dorset: settlement and economy in the Late and post-Roman Dorchester (Article in monograph). SDO10040.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:29PM