EDO4377 - Wyvern Fireplaces Factory, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester; excavation 1964

During the construction of the Wyvern Fireplaces Factory, 170 yards downslope from the east entrance of the hill-fort, seven Romano-British graves were revealed, dug into the natural chalk to a depth of 5-6ft and aligned approximately E-W. They included two lead coffins, to add to the one already recorded from the area, and a Ham Stone sarcophagus, all containing gypsum burials. Three of the graves formed a compact group immediately outside the NW corner of the factory. Also, fragments of a high-shouldered jar and large animal bones, found outside the SE corner of the factory, suggest Late Iron Age or Early Roman activity.