SDO14869 - Charles Street Car Park, Dorchester, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation

‘An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in February and March 2007 at the request of Simons Developments at Charles Street Car Park, Dorchester, Dorset. Three trenches were excavated in the north-western part of the development area. Trenches identified well preserved Roman features including pits and ditches, a collapsed wall, a metalled surface and levelling and/or consolidation layers. These were all sealed by ‘dark earth’ and/or cultivation deposits at least 0.7m thick. Artefactual evidence dating to the Romano-British and later periods was recovered from these layers. The evaluation has shown that Roman archaeological features are likely to survive in the part of the site examined at a depth of between 1.23m and 1.69m below the existing ground surface. The evaluation has also shown that archaeological deposits survive within the area of deep disturbance detected by the Ground Penetrating Radar Survey and that postmedieval robbing and/or disturbance of the archaeological deposits has occurred.'