EDO4354 - South Grove Cottage, Trinity Street, Dorchester; excavation 1972

Excavation of the garden of the cottage, at the south foot of Trinity St, was undertaken in advance of proposed development, in association with the organisation 'Rescue' and Rob Walkers, the successors of Lee Motors on the site. Rob Walkers shared the cost of the excavation with the Department of the Environment. A trench 16m by 5m was excavated. The earliest feature was a pit of late 1st-century date sealed by occupation layers cut, at the south end of the trench, by a 3m wide chalk and flint footing previously seen in the 1970 trench across Bowling Alley Walk (Proceedings, vol,92, p.135). In the far southern end of the trench was the tail of the primary Roman town rampart, which was constructed during the 2nd century and apparently respected the edge of the footing. At the end of the 3rd century the back of the rampart was extended over the footing; occupation layers built up on it, and finally a cobbled surface was placed on top. In the north end of the site the robbed west end of a 4th century structure was found with associated cess-pits. Above the Roman levels was a churned black graden soil containing pottery from the Roman period to the present day.