Monument record MDO6660 - Romano-British burials from Wyke Regis reservoir

A group of at least four Romano-British burials were discovered in the late 1930s when Wyke Regis reservoir was enlarged. One was buried with a cup dated to the late second century.

A Romano-British skeleton with fragments of a handled mug were found in October 1938, about 4 feet below the surface, when the ground on the east side of the existing reservoir was being cleared by a mechanical excavator for the construction of the new reservoir. At least three other skeletons had been discovered earlier in the same month: a man and a woman, on the east side of the site, and a third burial in a cist of flat stones; the headstone of which was described as of Portland stone.

Late Ro. Urn of blackware - presented to the Dorset Museum by Capt. GOODMAN - was found with inhumation in a cist, with another skeleton nearby in glebe allotments at WYKE REGIS by Rev H PIGOU in 1858. <1-2>
RB pottery and skeleton of the 1936 finds presented to the DORSET CO. MUSEUM by the Weymouth Waterworks Co. <3>

A Romano-British skeleton was found in Oct. 1936 about 4ft below the surface, when the ground to the east side of the reservoir was being cleared by a mechanical excavator. The skeleton was 60' 8" from the wall alongside the Wyke Road and 40' 4" from the east boundary edge. The orientation of the body was E.-W. The head being to the east with the face turned to the north. It was in poor condition with a number of bones missing and had been buried in a shallow grave seemingly without coffin. A handled mug of black gritty ware with tooled trellis pattern on the side and a looped scrawl under the base was recovered in fragments from the filling of the grave. At least 3 other skeletons were found in the same month, a man and a woman on the east side of the site and a 3rd burial in a cist of flat stones. <4>

To the east of the burial ground at [SY 66257783] are glebe allotment gardens which extend to the south & east i.e. L. shaped. <5.1>

A. [SY 66417792] B [SY 66307786] C. [SY 66377788] A - site of 1936 finds - & B - site of 1858 finds, - both referred to in T1 & plotted from dimensions given. A is now covered by a reservoir constructed in 1936 according to local information. B is still in use as allotments C is the reservoir constructed c. 1900. No further information regarding any of the sites of these finds could be obtained during field investigation. There were no finds. The bead rim bowl referred to in T.1. as a late Ro. Urn in T2 was seen in the DORSET CO MUSEUM. It is BELGIC, 1st c.AD. Acc. No. 1911.2.1, Samian cup also seen in DCM. <5>

<1> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1859, The Archaeological Journal XV, 201-2 (Serial). SDO18951.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1912, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 145 (Serial). SDO22.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1937, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1936, XXXVI (Serial). SDO39.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 70-72 (Serial). SDO49.

<4.1> Various, Dorset County Chronicle, 29th October 1936, 12 (Serial). SWX6464.

<4.2> British Archaeological Association, 1859, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 283 (Serial). SDO18952.

<5> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 12-AUG-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<5.1> Rose, J W, Oral: J W Rose (Churchwarden), Wyke Regis (Verbal communication). SDO18954.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 615 (Monograph). SDO150.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451566 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 30 2022 5:08PM