Monument record MDO18467 - Poundbury Post-Roman Structure PR16

Post-Roman Structure PR16 was discovered in the southeast part of Late Roman enclosure 3, during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. Only a very small part of this structure was within the excavated area and its remains comprised four large postholes, all except one had clearly held timber posts packed with rubble. Structure PR16 was tentatively assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2b, PR3a, PR15 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).

PR16, lay on the extreme western edge of site E, immediately SW of structure PR2b and most of this structure was outside the excavated area. Its remains comprised four large post-holes between 0.15 and 0.69m deep. All except one had clearly held timber posts packed with rubble. One was a double plan post-hole and another contained the void of a 0.15m diameter post.

This feature was initially placed within period VB of the post Roman settlement (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, however, this feature was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2a, PR3a, PR5, PR15 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