EDO4216 - Poundbury Camp, Dorchester; excavation 1939

Excavations were undertaken by Miss K Richardson at Poundbury Camp between 28th April and 18th May 1939, in order to better understand by whom it had been constructed, for what purpose, and to what extent it had been occupied. A continuous cutting was made through both banks and ditches of the western defences near the NW corner, the area inside the camp was extensively examined, and two trenches were dug across the aqueduct, the first where this continued along the lower platform below the north rampart, and the second some 73 yards west of the camp. The area within the defences was examined by a series of 3ft square trenches, about 38 in all, dug every 100ft. No evidence for occupation was found, although a Romano-British skeleton was found in a coffined, shallow grave in the silt of the inner ditch at the NE corner of the camp. A trench was excavated through the western ramparts. This revealed a Neolithic hearth sealed by the outher bank, worked flakes and pottery were found at the same level below the inner bank, although none of the sherds were typically Neolithic. The inner rampart and ditch were found to have been built in Iron Age A times, while the outer bank and ditch and an addition to the inner bank belonged apparently to the Belgic period. Three post holes (1 ft 6" x 1 ft in plan, 2ft deep) were excavated. They had been set 4ft 6" back from the edge of the ditch leavinf a 'berm'. They would have supported a revetment giving a vertical face to the inner rampart. In the second phase the inner rampart was extended to the edge of the ditch to provide a continuous slope. The second phase also saw the building of a stone retaining wall at the summit of the original rampart. The inner ditch had a funnel profile, with the last few feet dropping vertically to a base barely 1 ft wide. The outer bank was of simple dump construction with a V-profile outer ditch dated by a single sherd of Late Iron Age black, wheel turned pottery recovered from the base of the ditch. Early 4th century sherds from the silting of the ditches and from area sites suggests that the Romano-Britons were engaged in some sort of activity in or near Poundbury at that period. Two trenches were dug across the aqueduct and both showed the channel to be roughly 3ft deep and 5ft 3" across the bottom with slightly sloping sides. Where it had been cut through the Iron Age ditch it had been lined with clay to prevent seepage. With the exception of an indeterminate fragment of Samian, no evidence was obtained as to the date of the aqueduct.