Monument record MDO19033 - Roman pit and coin hoard, Marks and Spencer, 48 South Street, Dorchester

SY69199056. Traces of a house built on the foundations of an earlier house were noted in 1936.

SY69209056. A silver coin hoard, probably a `bank' hoard, deposited in or soon after 257CE was found in 1936 buried 3 feet below the level of the Roman house. The hoard of over 22000 antoniniani and 16 denarii, including so many die identities as to suggest that the money had not been in normal circulation, was contained in a bronze jug, a plain bronze bowl, and a box or keg, apparently cylindrical with bronze bound staves of yew wood. The jug, doubtlesss foreign, is of Wheeler's ype B1 or B2, probably of the C1st or early C2nd. The objects are in the County Museum; the coin hoard was broken up for sale after retention of collections by the British Museum, the County Museum, and the Portland Museum.

SY69219055. A fragment of coarse mosaic pavement, probably part of the same floor, was found in 1898 on a site at 47 South Street.

SY69179057. A fragment of coarse tessellated pavement, of which about 7 feet was said to have been taken up, was found in 1932. Part of the same pavement, or another, was noted by C D Drew in Sep-1932.

A damaged mosaic pavement found in circa 1725 at a depth of 3-4 feet, came from the same area. <1-4>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1936, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1935, 90 (Serial). SDO38.

From NRHE - not clear

<2> Mattingley, H, 1939, The Great Dorchester Hoard of 1936 (Article in serial). SDO9904.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 564, 194a; 572, 215a (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(194) Buildings with mosaic pavements have been found at various times between South Street and Trinity Street in the area formerly known as Cedar Park, and to the W. of Trinity Street. They may belong to a large house W. of the street (179) running S. in the centre of the town. … Other disconnected lengths of wall between the long wall and Trinity Street were associated with cement floors and apparently belonged to at least two periods. The long wall seems to have been associated with a concrete floor with a soling of mortared flints, at one point at least directly overlying an earlier cement floor containing a worn coin of A.D. 87. The earlier floor had a flint wall (I) underlying the long wall (II), and remains of another cement floor outside it. A tessellated pavement ignoring the earlier division overlay wall II and a debris layer beside it, and almost certainly belongs to a fragmentary floor of coarse tesserae at least 20 ft. long by at least 16 ft. wide running W. to E. from beneath the pavement of Trinity Street. … To the E. of wall II were traces of wall footings on a slightly different alignment, pits, an infant cremation in a jar of the 1st or 2nd century (215a), and a silver coin hoard (69209056), probably a 'bank' hoard, deposited in or soon after A.D. 257 (Plate 230). The hoard, of over 22,000 antoniniani and 16 denarii, including so many die identities as to suggest that the money had not been in normal circulation, was contained in a bronze jug, a plain bronze bowl, and a box or keg, apparently cylindrical with bronze-bound staves of yew wood; records suggest that the latter was about 10 ins. in diameter and 8 ins. high. The jug (Fig. p. 565), doubtless of foreign workmanship, had three blister feet, soldered but now detached; the handle, decorated with a conventional vine branch, is attached to the rim by duck's head arms and to the body by a soldering plate with mask of Silenus. His eyes and those of the ducks are inlaid with silver; so also are the band of his coronet and the volute centres and 'grapes' of the stem. The blister feet are unusual but the jug is of Wheeler's type B1 or B2 probably of the 1st century or early 2nd century (London Museum Catalogue no. 3, London in Roman Times (1930), 114). The objects are in D.C.M.; the coin hoard was broken up for sale after retention of collections by the British Museum, D.C.M., and Portland Museum. (MS. plans and section drawings of the site in D.C.M.; J.R.S. XXVII (1937), 243; Num. Chron. XIX (1939), 21–61.)’

<4> Pugsley, P, 2001, An item of Roman coopered furniture from Dorchester (Article in serial). SDO9903.

<5> Draper, J, 2001, Dorchester Past, 101 (Monograph). SDO9905.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410234 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:35PM