Monument record MDO18482 - Poundbury Later Post-Roman Settlement Boundary

The later post-Roman enclosure was discovered during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. It comprised a rectilinear enclosure defined by ditches and was aligned roughly ENE-WSW. The entrance was probably in the SW in the same position as the earlier phase of post-Roman enclosure. This enclosure was assigned to phase 3 of the post-Roman settlement, post-dating the sunken-featured buildings and their associated minor enclosures.

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).

The later phase of settlement boundary lay at 45 degrees to the earlier boundary system and has been reconstructed as a roughly rectilinear enclosure with rounded corners. The full extent of this enclosure has not been exposed by excavation. It was marked by ditches [E339]/[E442]/[E375] and [E367]/[E842] on the northern side, [F10141/2] on the eastern side, [D266] on the southern side, and [B24] to the west. The entrance was probably in the SW corner in the same position as in the earlier phase of enclosure. The area enclosed was about 0.73 hectares. The boundary ditches were more substantial than the earlier phase and cut through a number of earlier post-Roman features.

This phase of post-Roman enclosure was originally placed in phase VB (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this feature was assigned to phase 3 of the post-Roman settlement, post-dating the sunken-featured buildings and their associated minor enclosures. This represented the ultimate 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.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:33PM