Monument record MDO19044 - Borough Gardens, Dorchester; ?Roman burials

<1> 1921, Bodies Unearthed in the Borough Gardens (Article in serial). SDO9776.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 582, no. 222 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(222) BOROUGH GARDENS AREA (a) Inhumations found in the Borough Gardens between 1895 and 1942. In Dec. 1895 two or more skeletons were discovered in the earth above the Chalk, one apparently face downwards; amongst several bronze objects, including a nailcleaner, an armlet and brooch seem to have been associated with one burial. Numerous human bones had been seen. A human skull believed Roman was found in 1921, and a newspaper report of 1942 states that human remains were found when the tennis courts (689903) were laid out (between the O.S. revisions of 1901 and 1928). In making a static-water tank to N. (68889053) in 1942, over a dozen fragmentary skeletons were found, some within 1 ft. of the surface, with no attempt at orderly burial; others deeper were apparently in confusion. Mr. W. Yard, a council employee known to be a reliable informant, has however estimated (in 1951) a total of about 50 skeletons on this occasion, some of children, extended in different directions with no observed grave-goods or signs of coffins. Some of the remains could be of more recent plague victims, but the diffusion is in favour of regular burial, and the Roman age of some is unquestioned. (Moule, letter 4 Dec. 1895, in Haverfield Library, Ashmolean Museum; D.C.C., 7 Dec. 1921; 17 Sept. 1942.) …’

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:35PM