Monument record MDO18611 - Colliton Park, Dorchester; Roman Building III

Fragmentary remains of a large Roman building (Building III) were exposed in the W part of Colliton Park during excavations in 1937 and 1938. Building III lay immediately south of the enclosure (Building VII) on the west side of Colliton Park. It lies just east of the Roman town rampart and is broadly aligned on the Roman street to the east. It comprised a N-S range on the west side of a slightly sunken courtyard, that was apparently open to the east, with a detached single room on the north side (Building IIIa). The main western range was divided into three narrow rooms with a corridor along the east side. The walls and footings were of limestone and flint with herringbone limestone footings in the northern part. Very little masonry debris was found within this building, which may indicate that it was mainly of timber construction on sleeper walls. No evidence survives for the original function of this building, but a number of ovens were inserted, perhaps suggesting that they had an industrial function, at least during the later period of its use. No secure dating evidence was produced, but it was in use during the 4th century. A fine 4th century Rhenish glass bowl engraved with Bacchic dancers was found in a pit at the southern end of the corridor.

Fragmentary remains of a large Roman building were exposed in the W part of Colliton Park during excavations in 1937 and 1938. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the excavations were never completed or written up. The following account is based on the interim report (1) and the Royal Commission Inventory entry (2).

Building III lay immediately south of the enclosure (Building VII) on the west side of Colliton Park. It lies just east of the Roman town rampart and is broadly aligned on the Roman street to the east. It comprised a N-S range on the west side of a slightly sunken courtyard, that was apparently open to the east, with a detached single room on the north side (Building IIIa). The main western range was divided into three narrow rooms with a corridor along the east side. The walls and footings were of limestone and flint with herringbone limestone footings in the northern part. Very little masonry debris was found within this building, which may indicate that it was mainly of timber construction on sleeper walls.

The northern room apparently had a chalk or clay and chalk floor with some areas of rough flint cobbling. There was a small compartment at the southern end of the room, which may have been a store or perhaps a staircase base. An oven had been inserted into the northern part of the room, partially constructed over the footings to the corridor wall, suggesting it post-dates this wall. No floor surfaces are recorded from the middle room, but an oven was inserted into a shallow pit at the northern end of the room, again the oven impinges on the line of the corridor. Another large shallow pit, largely filled with small beach pebbles and ash. The southern room had a slight spread of mortar overlying the chalk in one part, perhaps the remains of the floor. Two postholes near the southern end may mark a partition within this room. Two rectangular pits were cut into the southern end of the room. The corridor was also divided into three parts and had an external doorway towards the southern end. A rectangular pit at the southern end of the corridor produced a substantially complete 4th century Rhenish glass bowl engraved with Bacchic dancers.

Building IIIa lay on the line of the north side of the courtyard. It comprised a single room, perhaps with a doorway in the SE corner. It was constructed of flint nodules laid in herringbone fashion, with limestone blocks at the corners. The southeast corner was built on top of a large pit. The building had a rammed chalk floor. An oven was found against the north wall, filled with ash and beach pebbles. A number of rubbish pits containing 4th century material lay immediately outside this building to the east and a well lay to the south.

Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 01-SEP-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 453300 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1937-1938, Colliton Park, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10066.

Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1939, Journal of Roman Studies, 219 (Serial). SDO20471.

Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 10-OCT-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<1> Drew, C D, and Collingwood Selby, K C, 1938, 'The Excavations at Colliton Park, Dorchester: Second Interim report; Excavations carried out in the season of 1938' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 53-57 (Article in serial). SDO9765.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 558-560 (Monograph). SDO149.

‘Monuments (182–187), in Colliton Park, now occupied by the County Council offices, were excavated in 1937–9 by C. D. Drew and K. C. C. Selby. Interim reports appeared in Dorset Procs. LIX (1937), 1–14, and LX (1938), 51–65. Where the following accounts differ from these reports they are based on unpublished finds and site notebooks in D.C.M., and on a re-examination of the visible remains including the re-exposure in 1959 of the floors of rooms 14 and 18 of Monument (182). For the street and water conduit also excavated by Drew and Selby, see Monuments (180) and (227b). (184) BUILDING, parallel with and only 1½ ft. S. of the wall of the enclosure, see (183), and likewise nearly in conformity with the street (180) (Buildings III and IIIA in interim report, Drew and Selby, op. cit. (1938); Figs. pp. 554, 559, Plate 222). It consisted of a N. to S. range (68949085) on the W. side of a slightly sunken courtyard, apparently open but extending 85 ft. to the E., with a detached single room on the N. side (68969087). It appears to have been used, at least ultimately, for industrial purposes; there is little evidence for its date, except that it was in use during the 4th century.

The main range, 158 ft. long by 25 ft. wide overall, probably thatched and with little sign of regular flooring, was divided into three narrow rooms each 12 ft. wide, entered from a corridor on the E., 6½ ft. wide. The N. room, 47½ ft. long, had an oven near the N. end built on the footings of the corridor wall after its collapse or demolition. A small apartment at the S. end, 3 ft. 2 ins. wide, may have contained stores or a staircase. The central room, 47 ft. long, also had a late oven in similar relationship to the corridor wall, and near it a large shallow pit filled with ashes and beach shingle. The S. room was 51 ft. long; a coin of Gallienus of 260–8 underlay its chalk floor and there were late pits at the S. end. In the corridor, also divided into three parts, the only apparent outer doorway was 3 ft. 7 ins. wide; a notable Rhenish glass bowl of the 4th century engraved with Bacchic dancers was found in a sump pit at the S. end.

'Building IIIA', about 31 ft. by 18½ ft. overall with its N. wall on the line of the courtyard wall, was built more neatly with flints set herring-bone fashion with limestone quoins, and was probably unplastered. There was a door in the S. wall and the floor was of packed chalk over dark earth. A large oven or furnace with a flue 6 ft. long lay against the N. wall; its filling contained ash and beach shingle similar to that in the central room of the main range. No dating material came from a pit underlying the S.E. corner of the building, but a tangential pit (J) was of the 4th century. Of several pits to the W., not shown in plan, two were 18 ft. deep. A well to the S., over 52 ft. deep, had a limestone coping. There were some remains of a small building on a similar alignment outside the courtyard to the S.E.’

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:30PM