Monument record MWX3405 - Roman Shaft, Jordan Hill Roman Temple, Weymouth

A lined oblong shaft under the south-east corner of the Romano-Celtic Temple on Jordan Hill, Weymouth, containing ash, charcoal, roofing slabs, animal bones, urns, a spearhead, a sword and a coin of Theodosius.

An oblong shaft in the SE corner of the Temple, measures 4ft by3ft and 12ft deep. It lies mostly under the line of the temple wall footings. Excavated by Medhurst in 1842 he described the following. The shaft sides as lined with roofing slabs set in clay, and the fillings consisted of 16 layers of ash and charcoal alternating with double layers of roofing slabs arranged in superimposed pairs, between each of which were the bones of a single bird and a small bronze coin. Other discoveries from the pit fills at the bottom of the pit were a stone cist containing two urns, a sword, a spear-head, a knife, a steelyard, a bucket handle a crook and other iron objects. The RCHM description of the shaft mentions another cist halfway down the shaft but an account by Warne in 1844 does not mention it. This other cist is described as containing, urns, a sword and a spear-head.(1)

A coin of Theodosius (379-95) was found and was the only dateable coin from the shaft (2)

It appears likely the shaft predates the Temple, or was a foundation deposit, their relationship cannot be established as the stratigraphy was destroyed by Medhurst's excavation (3)

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 616-617 (Monograph). SDO150.

<2> B H St J O'Neil, 1935, Coins from Jordan Hill Roman Temple, p140-142 (Article in serial). SWX2238.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452622 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 4 2024 12:03PM