Monument record MDO18475 - Poundbury Post-Roman Settlement phase 2

A post-Roman settlement was found in the southern part of the early post-Roman enclosure was discovered during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. Phase 2 of this settlement is distinguished by small terraced or sunken-floored buildings of post and wattle construction, surrounded by irregular ditched enclosures (PR6-10 and PR13). Also included within this settlement was the terraced post-hole structure PR1b, included on the basis of its similar orientation to the sunken-featured buildings. Not all the buildings were necessarily contemporary and the extent to which specific elements of the phase 1 settlement continued into this phase cannot be known. Christopher Sparey-Green has recently suggested that the sunken dwellings represent individual cells for a religious (possibly female) community established 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 reports and archive (1)(2)(3). 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 (4).

The later refinement of the post-Roman settlement sequence at Poundbury has identified a post-Roman settlement of three broad phases which developed on the site of the main Late Roman cemetery (3). Phase 2 of this settlement is distinguished by the appearance of small terraced or sunken-floored buildings of post and wattle construction, each surrounded by irregular ditched enclosures (PR6-10 and PR13). Also included within this phase of settlement is the terraced post-hole structure PR1b which is on a similar alignment to the sunken-featured buildings. A cluster of pits (pit group i) found adjacent to structure PR1b has also been included in this phase. Two burials may also be contemporary with the Phase 2 settlement. Grave 1188 was cut into the ditch fills of enclosure PR13 and grave 1341 was cut through Phase 1 structure PR11 (2).

Unlike the earliest phase of this settlement, there were no corn driers and little evidence for the details of the economy are available specifically for this phase of post-Roman settlement.

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

<2> Farwell, D E and Molleson, T I, 1993, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1980. Volume II: The Cemeteries (Monograph). SDO9538.

<3> Sparey Green, C, 1966-1979, Poundbury, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10096.

<4> Sparey Green, C J, 1996, Poundbury, Dorset: settlement and economy in the Late and post-Roman Dorchester (Article in monograph). SDO10040.

<5> 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

Feb 23 2018 3:06PM