Monument record MDO18133 - Roman building 2170, Greyhound Yard, Dorchester

A stone building comprising at least three rooms found in the northern end of the eastern frontage of the Greyhound Yard insula, during the 1984 excavations at Greyhound Yard. At least two rooms had a mosaic floor. A late 3rd century coin hoard was found in the drain in the central room.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1984 prior to the redevelopment of the area of the former Greyhound Yard (1). The results of the excavation were published together with the results of the adjacent Old Methodist Chapel excavations (2). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the published report (2).

Building 2170 was only partly within the excavated area at the northern end of the eastern frontage of the Greyhound Yard insula. The exposed part of the building comprised the southern ends of three rooms. The western part of this building survived much better than the east side, which was very denuded. This building was likely to have been part of an extensive building on the NE corner plot of the insula.

The footings were variable in the different parts of the structure. The footings of the central room were of bands of flint and chalk rubble beneath a layer of loosely mortared flint nodules in trenches 0.5-0.8m deep [4624, 2189/844, 1047]. The footings trench on the south side of the west room was of limestone rubble with a deeper consolidation with pitched limestone at the SW corner of the room. The west wall of the west room was built directly in the footings trench [2191] and comprised mortared limestone with a rubble core. The footings of the east room were very denuded with just a layer of flint rubble. Part of the wall of the central room [2221] survived in its SW corner and comprised two faces of mortared limestone with a mortared limestone rubble core. This wall terminated with a butt end about two metres into the room, perhaps indicating a doorway.

Internal layers survived only in the western and central rooms. In the central room there was a stone-lined drain [2560] running diagonally across the room from the SW corner, perhaps indicating the former presence of a basin or similar in this part of the room. This drain was sealed by layers of mortar, possibly from the construction of the building and the upper layer of mortar formed a single surface in both the western and central rooms. Only small fragments of a tessellated floor [2222, 2555] remained in the southern part of these two rooms, comprising a red and grey striped border parallel to the south wall, with the very edge of a panel of finer white and dark grey tesserae (3). The walls of these two rooms were plastered and painted. Evidence for the occupation and use of the building was limited and found mainly in the central room [2521]. Use of the drain was represented by a dark silty charcoal-flecked deposit. 29 coins of AD270-290 were recovered from the drain: this hoard may have been concealed in the entrance to the drain and subsequently lost into it.

Therewas some evidence for later use or re-use of the central room after the mosaic floor had gone out of use. The drain appeared to have collapsed in places and been infilled. Where the tesserae of the floor did not survive, the surface of the mortar bedding was pitted and uneven and in the NE area, it had been discoloured by fire and overlain by layers of ashy loam and charcoal. This was sealed by soil layers upon which were embedded rough limestone slabs [2525] to form a surface. The tessellated floor in the western room was also very worn and was sealed by earthen surfaces. No dating evidence for these surfaces was recovered.

There was a passageway between Building 2170 and Building 2700 to the south, which was blocked by a wall at its western end running south from the SW corner of Building 2170.

Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Dorchester, Durnovaria: Excavations in the town centre at Greyhound Yard, and the Old Methodist Chapel (1982-1984): Interim and introductory notes to the current excavations (Unpublished document). SDO9435.

Wessex Archaeology, 1984, Greyhound Yard, Dorchester excavation archive (Excavation archive). SDO9456.

<1> Woodward, P J , Davies, S M , and Graham, A H, 1984, Excavations at the Greyhound Yard Car Park, Dorchester, 1984, 99-106 (Article in serial). SDO9437.

<2> Woodward, P J , Davies, S M , and Graham, A H, 1993, Excavations at the Old Methodist Chapel and Greyhound Yard, Dorchester, 1981-1984, 60-62 (Monograph). SDO9411.

<3> Cosh, S R, and Neal, D S, 2005, Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume II South-west Britain, 104-105 (Monograph). SDO10182.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:27PM