Monument record MDO18496 - 9 Bridport Road, Dorchester; Late Roman ditch

A Late Roman ditch was discovered during excavations in advance of the construction of the Dorset Record Office (Dorset History Centre), Bridport Road, Dorchester by BUFAU in 1989. This ditch was aligned N-S with a U-shaped profile and contained some 4th century AD pottery. This ditch is similar in alignment to a number of similar ditches found on the adjacent Crown Buildings site and may be part of a more extensive late Roman enclosure system fronting on to the Roman road to Exeter, which lay to the south of the site. It was in an area of severe landscaping associated with the 19th century Depot barracks.

A single Late Roman ditch was discovered during excavations in advance of the construction of the Dorset Record Office (Dorset History Centre), Bridport Road, Dorchester by BUFAU in 1989. This ditch was aligned N-S and was 0.85m wide and 0.35m deep with a U-shaped profile. It was filled with brown silty soil containing 4th century AD pottery, animal bone and flint. This ditch was found in an area of severe landscaping and disturbance. Further contemporary features may have originally been present on the site but would have been destroyed by the terracing for the 19th century barracks.

This ditch is similar in alignment to a number of similar ditches found on the adjacent Crown Buildings site and may be part of a more extensive late Roman enclosure system fronting on to the Roman road to Exeter, which lay to the south of the site.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 69 SE 272 (Index). SDO9937.

Hughes, E G, 1989, Excavations at 9 Bridport Road, Dorchester. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 87-90 (Article in serial). SDO9514.

Hughes, E G, 1990, Excavations at 9 Bridport Road, Dorchester (Unpublished document). SDO181.

Record last edited

Dec 15 2006 5:08AM