Monument record MDO6245 - Culvert, East Street, Wimborne Minster

During pipe-laying workmen broke through the roof of a large culvert at a depth of 0.7m below the surface of the A35. The arch of the culvert was composed of large dressed sandstone blocks, and the watercourse ran at right angles to the road, with its western side 3.6m east of the River Allen. The maximum width of the culvert between the springing of the arch was 1.87m, and its depth estimated (because of silt) between 1.5m and 1.8m. The culvert was flanked on both sides by 2.1m wide buttressing of sandstone blocks built integrally within the arch.

The culvert was interpreted as a mill race, probably related to a bricked-in brick-built arch observed almost at water level in a wall of a building on the east bank of the river on the north side of East Street. Norman Field interpreted these features as carrying a flow of water under the main road and serving a water-wheel north or south of the road, or both. He felt that the fine construction of the culvert suggested a probable eighteenth-century date.

The culvert below the road was filled with concrete, to remove the risk of collapse. Samples of stone and mortar were taken and deposited in the Priest's House Museum, Wimborne Minster. (1)

The published grid reference (SZ 01078 99875) has been adjusted in the HER record to give a location in the centre of the road.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1975, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1974, 70 (Serial). SDO74.

Record last edited

Mar 9 2018 1:11PM