SDO9524 - TA Centre, Poundbury Road, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Watching Brief

In July 1994 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Read Loveless and Morrell, Chartered Architects, to undertake an archaeological watching brief during ground works for a new extension to the Territorial Army Centre, Poundbury Road, Dorchester The watching brief was required as a condition of planning consent following the advice of the County Archaeological Officer that any archaeological remains exposed during construction work should be adequately investigated and recorded. The fieldwork was undertaken in accordance with a written scheme of investigation prepared by Wessex Archaeology (ref: T1602) and approved by the County Archaeological Officer. The archaeological potential of the development area centres on its proximity to known late Roman cemeteries to the west of and serving the town of Durnovaria (Farwell and Molleson 1993, fig.139). Some of the nearest recorded burials include about 30 inhumations found in 1920 between the TA Centre and The Grove (RCHM 1970, 582), and discoveries at the Crown Building, Bridport Road, (Fig. 1, 'Govt Offices') where 50 Roman burials were recovered including that of a young man placed in a lead coffin, half filled with burnt gypsum powder (Green et al., 1981). The particular conditions of the burial allowed the survival of a head and pigtail of red hair. The site also lies close to settlements that date to the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and post-Roman periods to the east of Poundbury hillfort and to the north-west of the TA Centre (Green 1987). The general reduction in levels throughout the site area occurred within deposits that comprised two dumps of modern building rubble separated by a buried topsoil. In combination these three deposits varied from 1.5m thick in the west to 0.3m. No archaeological features or deposits were recorded in the section or base of the foundation trenches. The dumps of building rubble contained fragments of modern material, including ceramic brick and tile. No pre-modern material was recognised and no artefacts were retained from the fieldwork. There was an absence of any evidence during the observation work for buried archaeological remains or for artefacts of pre-modern date. The principal archaeological potential of the site centre on its proximity to known late Roman cemeteries to the west of and serving the town of Durnovaria. The absence of evidence for burials in this location provides some negative evidence for the location and extent of the cemeteries in this area. Recent excavations at the nearby sites of Crown Buildings (Green et al., 1981) and Bridport Road (Hughes 1989) have shown that there were plots within the Late roman cemeteries that were not used for burial. The site at the TA Centre may have occurred within such an enclosure or within an area that was never considered as part of the cemeteries.