Monument record MDO18267 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Early Roman Structure 1

Structure 1 was a rectangular post-built building found in Trench 6, during the 1990 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. Very little of the internal surfaces of this building survived. It is unclear what was its exact nature and function, perhaps it may have been a covered yard, rather than a walled building, but the evidence is not conclusive. The small number of finds recovered suggest it was in use during the 2nd century AD.

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

Structure 1 was a rectangular post-built building found in the northwest part of Trench 6. It continued beyond the area of the excavation to the north. It comprised eleven postholes forming the west, east and south sides of a rectangular structure over 7m long and 6.5m wide. These postholes were evenly spaced but of varying size and depth, with an average diameter of 0.4m and an average depth of 0.2m; some of them contained stone packing and pottery dating to the 1st-2nd century AD. It was built on top of a series of soil layers deposited to level up the area and improve the drainage.

Within the interior of the structure were three postholes. Their relationship with Structure 1 is unclear, but may be the remains of some internal division or structure. Several small lenses of occupation material were also found within the building. Some 2nd century AD pottery was recovered from these layers.

The nature and function of this building are not clear. The excavators suggest that it may have been a covered yard, rather than a walled building, as the building elements are relatively slight. Also, it is subsequently replaced by a walled yard which occupies almost exactly the same area. The fairly limited dating evidence suggests this structure was in use during the 2nd century AD.

<1> 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 Volume 1: Text & Appendix I (Unpublished document).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.

<2> Adam, N J, 1990, 'Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester, Interim Note on Stage 3, October-December 1990' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 115-7 (Article in serial). SDO9415.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431041 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM