EDO4821 - Former County Hospital Site, Dorchester; Block 4 evaluation trenches

Excavations were conducted by Wessex Archaeology prior to redevelopment of the former Dorset County Hospital site, adjacent to and south of Somerleigh Court, in the SW corner of the Roman town of Dorchester. The fieldwork took place intermittently between October 2000 and December 2001. The principal archaeological works comprised three separate excavation trenches corresponding to the proposed footprints of new buildings: Blocks 1 & 3 (a single N-S aligned trench along the eastern side of the site; Block 2 (an 'L-shaped' trench in the southern part of the site); and Block 4 (a sub-rectangular trench in the western part of the trench). There were also three evaluation trenches to the west of Block 4 and a watching brief was maintained on a new service trench across the site and two areas of unscheduled ground reduction. A 'strip-and-record' programme also exposed archaeological remains immediately south of Somerleigh Court, which were preserved in situ. The excavations revealed a sequence of structures, associated features and deposits which document the development of this part of the town from the 1st century AD until the early 5th century. Three evaluation trenches were excavated in advance of the construction of Hascombe Court on the south side of Chesil Place, to the west of Block 4. The edge of a large quarry pit was found.This same feature was previously excavated in the 1969 excavations at Dorchester Hospital Site B, where it was interpreted as a quarry for material for the town ramparts. This quarry has been tentatively dated to the late 2nd-mid-third century AD.