Monument record MDO18466 - Poundbury Post-Roman Structure PR15

Post-Roman Structure PR15 was discovered in the southeast part of Late Roman enclosure 3, during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. Very slight evidence for a rectangular building was found in the form of two short lengths of slot, and three postholes. Structure PR15 was tentatively assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2b, PR3a, 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).

Possible post-Roman structure PR15 lay in the centre of site E, east of post-Roman structure PR3, and was probably cut by post-Roman pit group iv. Three postholes [E136-8], and small lengths of beam slot, [E155] & [E157], provided the only structural evidence for a possible rectangular structure.

It was one of six post-Roman buildings excavated on Sites B & E and assigned to phase 5A within enclosure 3, superimposed upon the western part of the Late Roman cemetery on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this feature was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2a, PR3a, PR5, 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 (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 5:31PM