Monument record MDO18233 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Prehistoric ditches

A series of four roughly parallel ditches oriented NE-SW were found during the 1989 and 1990 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. These ditches are poorly dated but may represent Bronze Age field boundary ditches.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1989 and 1990 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2) (3) (4) (5). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the reports and archive (2) (4) (5).

A single ditch of probable prehistoric date was found in Trench 4, during the 1989 excavations. Ditch [1464] ran in a slight natural depression from NE to SW across the southern end of the trench. This ditch was about one metre wide and 0.7m deep and was traced for 3.5m. The base of the trench was very irregular, but it was unclear whether this was a result of irregularities in the natural or was the remains of post settings for a palisade. It was filled with flint rubble containing some worked flints, sealed by a layer of clean orange-brown clay loam.

Three ditches of probable prehistoric were found in Trench 6, during the 1990 excavations. These were also on a NE-SW orientation. To the west was a V-shaped ditch [2443] up to 1.5m wide and 0.8m deep, which was traced for over 11m. About nine metres to the east was another parallel ditch [2521], which was only traced for a short distance and was not excavated. In the southeast corner of the trench, about 15m east of the line of ditch [2521] was another roughly parallel ditch [2502], about 1.5m wide. These ditches were all filled with dark yellowish-brown soils.

In the southern end of Trench 6, was the very disturbed traces of another ditch [2500], which appeared to be running E-W.

None of these ditches were securely dated but were all sealed beneath soil layers which pre-dated the early Roman activity in this area. It is possible that they represent Bronze Age field boundary ditches.

<1> Davies, S M and Farwell, D, 1989, Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9408.

<2> Adam, N J, Butterworth, C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9409.

<3> Davies, S M and Farwell, D E, 1989, 'Charles Street, Dorchester, Wessex Court Development', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO9414.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

<5> Adam, N J, and Butterworth, C A, 1993, Excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1990. Volume 1: Text & Appendix I (Unpublished document). SDO191.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM