SDO14471 - Rooms below the Nisi Prius Court, Shire Hall, Dorchester, Dorset. An Archaeological Field Evaluation.

An archaeological field evaluation was carried out by Context One Archaeological Services on rooms below the Nisi Prius Court at Shire Hall, Dorchester in May 2012. The archaeological investigation was situated in the basement of Shire Hall, built at the end of the 18th century, in an area where the Tolpuddle Martyrs were held during their infamous trial. The conditions in the basement affected access and safety and restricted the scope of the work. A well found under rubble is probably broadly contemporary with the construction of the Hall. There was also evidence for strengthening of an original internal wall. The ground had been levelled by cutting into the natural chalk to provide a stable base for the hall. It is very unlikely that Romano-British deposits would survive and improbable that there might be remains of even large-scale monumental Neolithic features of the kind found nearby.