EDO4481 - Glyde Path Road, Dorchester; excavation 1880

In 1880 the Dorchester antiquarian B A Hogg dug up a dead tree in a garden on Glyde Path Road that was rented by him. He re-discovered a mosaic floor that had been first seen c.1831 when the same tree was initially planted. Hogg excavated the mosaic floor for a length of 4.9m (16ft) (1) (2). Foundations 0.45m (18ins) thick and 0.6m (2ft) high indicated a range of buildings 4.9m (16ft) wide and over 13m (43ft) long aligned ENE-WSW. A cross wall at the east end formed a small room 4.9m by 2.3m (16ft x 7.5ft) across. Red-painted wall plaster was also noted. A strip of coarse tesselated floor two metres (6.75ft) wide and possibly a corridor of the same building, was traced for four metres (13ft) to outhouses against the prison wall. It was composed of alternating bands of red and white tesserae. A well 0.75m (30ins) diameter and 0.9m (3ft) was found just to the north of the building and was apparently Roman (3). This building was covered over and then subsequently excavated again in 1966, prior to development of the site (4).