Monument record MDO18444 - Poundbury Post-Roman pit group ii

Post-Roman pit group ii comprised 13 small pits to the south of building PR3 on Site B, discovered during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. These shallow eroded circular or oval hollows appear to have no particular function except perhaps as quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production. Pit group ii was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2b, PR3a, PR15, PR16 and possibly PR14; pit groups ii-v; grain driers 1,2,3 & 5 to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement on the site of the late Roman cemetery.

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) (4).

Pit group ii comprised 13 small pits to the south of building PR3 on Site B. These oval or circular hollows varied in diameter from 0.9m to 1.8m and in depth by 0.45m to 0.6m. They had weathered into bowl-shaped hollows, with a chalky fill at the base sealed by soil and rubble. Finds were rare but [B187] contained a shale spindle whorl. These shallow eroded circular or oval hollows appear to have no particular function except perhaps as quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production.

Pit group ii was originally assigned to phase 5A (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this pit group was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2a, PR3a, PR5, PR15, and possibly PR14; pit groups iii-v; grain driers 1,2,3 & 5 to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement on the site of the late Roman cemetery (3). generally oval scoops. Pit [B28] had a mass of chalk rubble, flint and limestone rubble on the base and a lower fill of brown chalky soil with chips of burnt limestone and some lenses of carbonised debris or grey puddled chalk, with an upper fill of soil chalk and limestone rubble, perhaps a deliberate backfill. These shallow eroded circular or oval hollows appear to have no particular function except perhaps as quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production. Pit [B31] was an irregular curving hollow 5.3m long and ranging in width from 0.9 to 1.8m, which was divided into two by a low drystone wall forming an arc across the base and up the western side with the two surviving limestone courses presenting a regular face only on the southern, convex side. A mass of rubble on that side suggested that there had been more courses that had collapsed while the pit was still open. The lowest course rested on a layer of chalky soil containing disturbed human bones.

Pit group i was originally assigned to phase VB (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this pit group was assigned to phase 2 of the post-Roman settlement, which was distinguished by the appearance of small terraced or sunken-floored buildings of post and wattle construction, surrounded by irregular ditched enclosures (PR6-10 and PR13). (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.

<4> Sparey Green, C J, Living amongst the dead: From Roman cemetery to post-Roman monastic settlement at Poundbury (Article in monograph). SDO10041.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:30PM