SDO195 - Magistrates Court, County Hall, Dorchester, Dorset. Archaeological Assessment

In January 1991 Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation of an area to the west of the South Wing of County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester. The work was undertaken in advance of a proposed extension to the Magistrates Court building. The evaluation comprised the hand-excavation of nine trenches (A-J) to the top of the natural chalk. The trenches were located in available areas either within flower beds, areas of hard-standing or the lawn fronting the County Hall building. The total area examined consisted of 23 square metres. Almost all the trenches lay within the area of a substantial terrace cut into the the north-facing slope during the 1939 construction works for County Hall. The total extent and depth of terracing was not determined, but the southern and western limits presumably lie close to the tail of the rampart of the Roman town defences, and parallel to the frontage of the County Hall building and was up to about 1.5m in depth. All stratification above chalk bedrock had been removed by the construction of this terrace. It was only in Trench J that an in situ Roman deposit was observed (producing some large unabraded sherds of 3rd-4th century Black Burnished Ware), indicating that this trench lay south of the terrace. It was not possible to determine the nature of this deposit, whether it represented surviving Roman stratification above the level of the chalk bedrock or the upper fillings of a chalk-cut feature.