SDO9897 - Archaeological Observations at the Grove Garage, Dorchester, Dorset

Trenches were opened up by machine in advance of redevelopment of the the site of the former Grove Garage, Top o' Town, Dorchester. The work took place over a period of three days in October 1988. All archaeological deposits revealed by machine were hand excavated and recorded in an attempt to recover dating evidence. Samples for molluscan analysis were taken from one trench. Archaeological deposits were well preserved in the SW corner of the site, but heavily truncated elsewhere. Trench 3 contained no archaeological deposits, rubble sitting directly above chalk bedrock. Trenches 1, 4 and 6, located close to the street fronatge, all revealed the west edge of a shallow soil filled feature sloping down to the east at approximately 20 degrees and running parallel to the road 5m to the east. This feature is interpreted as on of the defensive ditches of the Roman town of Dorchester. Trenches 2, 5 and 7 were situated in the centre of the site and cut across the line of a deeper ditch centred 10m west of the ditch in Trenches 1, 4 and 6. in Trenches 2 and 5 the profile survived to a maximum depth of 1.8m. Trench 7 contained the deepest surviving ditch fragment at 2.30m below present ground level, with a regular 'v' profile and a projected upper width of 5m at present ground level. The artefacts recovered do not help with the dating of the filling of the ditches.