Monument record MDO18004 - St George's Road rectangular enclosure system

A rectangular ditched enclosure with two entrances found at St George's Road in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. At least two phases of use, with the blocking of one entrance in the second phase. There are a number of subdivisions within the enclosure. A grain drier and a pit appear to be associated with this enclosure. Elements of other rectangular enclosures to the east.

Part of a rectangular or rectilinear ditched enclosure system were discovered during the excavations at St George's Road, undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. The following description is abstracted from the final published report on the site (1). The numbers in square brackets refer to context numbers quoted in the report.

The major part of the enclosure system exposed by the excavation comprised part of a large rectangular ditched enclosure with elements of further enclosures found to the northeast and southeast. The north, east and south limits of the large rectangular enclosure were identified. It measured 48m long and over 34m wide with a 4m wide entrance to the east and another 4m wide entrance to the south. The enclosure ditches had been recut at least once and in places comprised a series of abutting short lengths of ditch, rather than a continuous feature. The ditches varied in depth between 0.15-0.65m, being deepest to the north. At least two phases have been defined represented by the recutting of the north and east limbs of the enclosure ditch and the apparent blocking of the southern entrance by a short ditch segment. Finds from both phases were sparse and included small abraded sherds of 1st to 4th century AD date.

The enclosure appears to have been subdivided by three shallow ditches [01020, 01025, 01119] into at least three smaller subrectangular enclosures. A number of features within this enclosure may be contemporary with it, including a scatter of postholes. A grain drier [01185] was found in the northeast part and a pit [01079] was found on the southern side of the eastern entrance.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 983963 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note (Article in serial). SDO9381.

Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 19-21 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 1:28PM