Monument record MDO18033 - Maiden Castle Road Building 02357

A rectangular structure constructed within a slight terrace cut into the slope. The walls were post-built or low cill beams or walls. It was divided into two rooms by a post partition. A Black Burnished Ware pot was found sunk into the floor in the northeast corner.

One of three rectangular buildings found in the northwest part of the excavations to the north of Maiden Castle Road undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. They may represent the eastward expansion of a settlement area to the west of the site. 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.

Structure [02357] lay to the north of [02309], partly overlying the ditches on the south side of the trackway. It was a rectangular building 5.7m by 4.7m and comprised a shallow terrace cut into the north-facing slope to create a level platform with postholes defining the north and east walls. The west wall had only one posthole surviving and the south wall had two. A concentration of flint rubble suggests the south wall may have had a low flint wall set against the terrace edge. There was no indication of an entrance. An internal east-west partition defined by postholes divided this structure into two rooms. The surface of the chalk was irregular and uneven suggesting this building may have had a raised wooden floor. In the northeast corner was a complete Black Burnished Ware jar set within a small hole so the rim of the vessel was level with the chalk surface, possibly either for storage or as a foundation deposit.

A large number of coarse oxidised Black Burnished Ware jar sherds were found in the infill of this building, of a type which may date to the very late or even early post-Roman period. Very few other finds were recovered other than three fragments of at least millstone. The excavators suggest that the restricted range of finds suggests a low status for this building and the large quantity of jars and the millstone may suggest it was primarily used for preparation of foodstuffs and storage, rather than a dwelling. <1>

SY 676 894 (FCE) A rapid examination of air photography suggests the presence of a number of features, including rectilinear enclosures, linear features and pits, possibly of Prehistoric or Roman date, visible in the process of being excavated to the north of Maiden Castle, c.150m northeast of Bush Road Cottages. <2>

National Record of the Historic Environment, 983909 (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, 79-89 (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 56-70 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<2> Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project, 12-FEB-1993 (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<2.1> Boyden, J R, JRB 3421: 07-8, 10, 16; JRB 3425: 16, 18-30 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20335.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 8:31PM