Monument record MDO18737 - Wadham House Roman Building A

Evidence for a Roman building was discovered during excavations behind Wadham House, High West Street, Dorchester in 1968. This evidence comprised a N-S aligned wall at the extreme east end of the site, east of and parallel to Street B. The foundation trench was cut through the soft ash fill of the conduit. The footings consisted of unbonded large flints. All that remained of the wall superstructure was three courses of limestone slabs set in decayed yellow-cream mortar. The position of the subsequent robber trench suggests that these remaining courses were offset from the western external face of the wall. Gully 1, containing late 3rd century material, may be contemporary with this building.

Found during the excavation of a 27.5m x 3m trench during December and January 1968-9, dug in advance of the redevelopment of the back garden of Wadham House, 50 High West Street, Dorchester. The Excavation has been published as part of the ‘Dorchester Excavations Volume 1’ (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph 2) (1).

Evidence for this building comprised a N-S aligned wall at the extreme east end of the site, east of and parallel to Street B. The foundation trench was cut through the soft ash fill of the conduit. The footings consisted of large flints (0.2 x 0.2 x 0.15m), without bonding mortar. All that remained of the wall superstructure was three courses of limestone slabs set in decayed yellow-cream mortar. The position of the subsequent robber trench suggests that these remaining courses were offset from the western external face of the wall. The robber trench contained early 4th century material.

Gully 1, containing late 3rd century material, may be contemporary with this building. Wall A seems to represent a small part of a substantial masonry building constructed to the east of Street B at a time when the course of the conduit had been forgotten. This building appears to date from the late 3rd century, as do the buildings in Colliton Park suggesting that this part of town was largely devoid of buildings until the late 3rd century, after which there was much building activity in the area. However, the road, conduit and ash layers suggest that there was occupation nearby in the 1st and second centuries. Pit 3, at the west end of the site, may be a cess pit contemporary with building A. The building appears to have been demolished in the early 4th century at which point the wall was robbed and a timber building or fence constructed on top of the rubble in the mid 4th century.

<1> Draper, J, and Chaplin, C, 1982, Dorchester Excavations Volume 1: Excavations at Wadham House 1968; Dorchester Prison 1970, 1975 and 1978; and Glyde Path Road 1966, 3-26 (Monograph). SDO9690.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410290 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:31PM