SDO9756 - Dorchester, County Hospital, Somerleigh Road. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

A Roman Street almost parallel with Somerleigh Road was observed and traced for 50 feet by R.A.H. Farrar during the building of a new annexe to the Hospital in October 1949. The metalling was visible in one complete and two partial sections in the sides of builders foundation trenches. The road was 20 ft wide and 1 foot thick, consisting of well grouted gravel and flints on a foundation of two layers of gravel and flints bedded in clay and separated by a layer of rammed chalk, the whole resting on the weathered surface of chalk rock. A guuter was visible on the east side and ruts and pot-holes had been repaired c. 330 AD or later. The street was aligned approximately N-S. Four rubbish pits were observed; one late Roman, two medieval and one 17th century. A chalk floor of Roman date was revealed 7ft below the surface in the angle between the front of the main hospital building and its southern wing.