SDO10287 - The Roman sites at Pinford Lane, Castleton, Sherborne; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

C E Bean continued excavations at Pinford Lane Roman settlement during 1957 and 1958. In 1957 excavations in ‘Long Plantation’ (ST 65371692) uncovered several walls with cobbling between them. Early Roman domestic material was found on the cobbling, including Samian ware, brooches and bracelets. A T-shaped corn drying oven was also found in the SE corner of this building in an earlier excavation. Cobbling and walling seemed to continue under Pinford Lane to the north and westwards as far as the boundary wall of the plantation. Further cobbling and buildings also exist c. 280 ft to the east. The upper layers in these trenches contained 3rd-4th century pottery mixed with 13th-14th century pottery. The latter may date the robbing of the walls of this settlement, major works were being carried out at the castle by Henry III around 1224. More buildings with cobble floor exist to the west, bounded on their west side by a ditch. ‘This site produced a silver coin of the Durotiges in the 1933 excavation, with a coin of Nero and nearby a tinned or silvered bronze brooch.’ Also in 1957, the Southern Gas Board laid a gas main along the entire length of Pinford Lane, damaging many unrecorded buildings. The trench demonstrated that the settlement continued further west than previously thought and it may be that other buildings have been covered by the construction of pleasure grounds at ST 65031685. In 1958 trenches were excavated at ST 65431705 in order to further examine the extent of structures investigated in 1956. a 4th century wall was traced for 35 feet south from the field ditch and probably continued north into an adjacent field. This had been laid on top of an earlier cobbled floor, probably of a 2nd century building whose walls had been completely robbed. This floor lay above another earlier one, probably of a 1st-2nd century rectangular timber building, which lay directly on the clayey subsoil. The excavations suggest that Pinford Lane is the site of a small Roman town or village rather than a single establishment.