Monument record MDO18995 - Syward Road, Dorchester; Roman burial

A grave containing an extended inhumation burial with head to the ENE was found during the digging of a telephone cable trench in 1955. Late Roman pottery probably from the grave fill suggest a Roman date.

The remains of an inhumation burial was found in September 1955 during the digging of a telephone cable trench in Syward Road, Came View Estate, Dorchester. Only the upper part of the burial was exposed and consisted of an extended inhumation, probably of a female aged 22-23 years, with the head to the ENE. This burial lay within a chalk cut grave oriented ENE-WSW. No secure dating evidence was recovered, but two sherds of late Roman pottery - a rim of a black burnished flanged bowl and a sherd of slip-coated ware were found in the spoil and were thought to have come from the fill of the grave. (1)

<1> Farrar R A H, 1956, Recent Discoveries in Dorchester; An Inhumation Burial at Came View Estate, Syward Road. (Article in serial). SDO9744.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 578, no.218e (Monograph). SDO150.

Record last edited

Oct 30 2013 9:53AM