Monument record MDO18976 - Miller's Close, Dorchester; Roman burials

At least fifteen inhumation burials were discovered during constructon of bungalows in Millers Close in 1963. No grave goods were recovered. The burials are probably Roman in date.

About fifteen inhumation burials were destroyed during the construction of bungalows between the Grove and Miller's Close, late in 1963. The first burials was oriented E-W and the others were variously aligned. No grave goods were found, but all burials were removed non-archaeologically. (1)(2)

<1> Farrar, R A H, 1963, Recent Discoveries and Accessions; Inhumation Burials in Dorchester (ii)., 100 (Article in serial). SDO9711.

An inhumation burial was destroyed in building excavations for bungalows between The Grove and Miller's Close late in 1963, and apparently 14 more since, all within an area of some 15 x 15 yards, centering on SY 68829104, and all apparently in extended posture. Little of the first burial remained when examined by Miss M. Samuel but it had apparently been oriented E-W, with no grave goods noticed although some watch had been kept. Some 2ft of topsoil had been stripped from the site, and the burials, which were not all similarly aligned, were found in chalk some 4 or 5 feet deeper, with soil and dark rubble above. Two extended skeletons, also variously oriented, were found nearby in 1903 in building the new Compasses Inn (68869106), accompanied by coarse ware vessels, one (DCM 1907.3.8) a bead rim pedestalled jar of Brailsford's Durotrigian type 2, the other (not traced), evidently a small jar or pipkin.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1964, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1963, 100 (Serial). SDO63.

An inhumation burial was destroyed in building excavations for bungalows between The Grove and Miller's Close late in 1963, and apparently 14 more since, all within an area of some 15 x 15 yards, centering on SY 68829104, and all apparently in extended posture. Little of the first burial remained when examined by Miss M. Samuel but it had apparently been oriented E-W, with no grave goods noticed although some watch had been kept. Some 2ft of topsoil had been stripped from the site, and the burials, which were not all similarly aligned, were found in chalk some 4 or 5 feet deeper, with soil and dark rubble above. Two extended skeletons, also variously oriented, were found nearby in 1903 in building the new Compasses Inn (68869106), accompanied by coarse ware vessels, one (DCM 1907.3.8) a bead rim pedestalled jar of Brailsford's Durotrigian type 2, the other (not traced), evidently a small jar or pipkin.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 585, no. 226b (Monograph). SDO150.

Record last edited

Apr 22 2020 4:19PM