Monument record MDO18494 - Dingles Store, Princes Street, Dorchester; 18th century pits

A number of pits, of broadly 18th century date, were excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 1989, in advance of proposed redevelopment behind the former Dingles Store (now Princes House), Dorchester. At least six pits were found, including a stone-lined square cess pit and a pit containing probable smithing waste. During the 18th century, this area was in the open back yard of a property on High West Street. A smithy is marked on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map and was presumably the source of the smithing waste.

A number of pits, of broadly 18th century date, were excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 1989, in advance of proposed redevelopment behind the former Dingles Store (now Princes House), Dorchester (1) (2) (3). At least six pits, some intercutting and some containing 18th century finds, were exposed. There is little sense of patterning in the small area excavated. In the middle of the trench was a sub-circular pit with a flat base 0.5m deep, which was filled with two layers of apparently water-lain ash and hammerscale, with a layer containing loose ash and a large quantity of slag and corroded iron fragments above. A heavily corroded iron spade was found vertically in this pit. The remains found in this pits suggest that it may be smithing debris and may point to the former presence of a smithy or other workshop in the near vicinity (1). A smithy is marked on the 1888 Ordnance Survey 1:500 map on this site (4).

Immediately to the north was another pit or possibly two intercutting pits 0.4m deep filled with lenses of ash and cess, which contained 18th century earthenwares, animal bone, clay tobacco pipe and a large quantity of slate. To the northeast was a possibly circular pit which contained no dating evidence. In the SE corner of the trench was a complex of intercutting pits. The earliest were two amorphous intercutting pits filled with rubble, loam and chalk lenses. These were cut by a square stone-lined cess pit which was not completely excavated. Its upper fill contained a small quantity of animal bone and 18th century earthenwares.

These pits were all at least 5m from the original Princes Street frontage and in the 18th century were in the open back yard behind a property on High West Street, as depicted on Hutchins' map of 1772 (5). By 1810 there was a building along the Princes Street frontage (6).

Wessex Archaeology, 1989, Dingles Store, Princes Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10047.

<1> Heaton, M J, Pearce, P, and Davies, S M, 1990, Archaeological Excavations at the Rear of Dingles Store, Princes Street, Dorchester (Unpublished document). SDO9416.

<2> Davies, S M, 1989, Dingles Store. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 110 (Article in serial). SDO9417.

<3> Frere, S S, 1989, 'Roman Britain in 1988: 1. Sites explored' Britannia, 352 (Article in serial). SDO10073.

<3> Frere, S S, 1990, 'Roman Britain in 1989: 1. Sites explored' Britannia, 352 (Article in serial). SDO10046.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1888, Dorchester Sheet XL.15.13 (Map). SDO10048.

<5> Price, J, 1772, Plan of Dorchester (Map). SDO9548.

<6> Anon, 1810, Map of the Borough of Dorchester, Dorset (Map). SDO9545.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:29PM