Monument record MDO18435 - Poundbury Post-Roman pit group vi

Post-Roman pit group vi was discovered at the northern end of Site E, during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. It comprised fourteen shallow hollows immediately to the west of building PR12, which were filled with soil and rubble. Two sub-rectangular pits in the northern part were different in character and superficially similar to the post-Roman grain driers. These pits cut grain drier 4. The function of these pits is not clear. Pit group vi (together with structures PR11 and PR12, pit group vii and grain drier 4) formed a small settlement in the northern end of the earlier post-Roman enclosure and probably dating to the 5th century AD.

Found during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1979 during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published excavation report and archive (1)(2). Further refinement of the post-Roman settlement sequence has been undertaken by Christopher Sparey Green since the initial publication of the site and this has been taken into account in the following description (3).

Post-Roman pit group vi lay at the northern end of Site E. It comprised 14 small weathered hollows between 0.9m and 1.5m across. They were filled with soil with a small quantity of chalk rubble. Two sub-rectangular pits [E420] & [E468] on the north side of the group differed both in shape and in the greater quantity of limestone and flint in their fill. The larger [E420] had sloping sides and a level base filled with chalky soil in the lower part and soil and rubble in the top, with some burnt material also present. The smaller [E468] was a steep-sided trench with a level base on a similar alignment, which contained soil and much rubble. Although superficially similar to grain driers the lack of carbonised seed remains argues against this interpretation. Two more rectangular but less regular pits to the west may have been the shallow graves of an adult and a child whose bones had dissolved or been removed. Grain drier 4 was cut by this pit group. The function of these pits is uncertain.

Pit group vi was assigned to phase VA in the original monograph publication (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, it was assigned, along with structures PR11 and PR12, grain drier 4 and pit group vii, to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement, to the north of the main cemetery and possibly contemporary with the latest phase of burial (3).

<1> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements (Monograph). SDO9630.

<2> Sparey Green, C, 1966-1979, Poundbury, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10096.

<3> Sparey Green, C J, 1996, Poundbury, Dorset: settlement and economy in the Late and post-Roman Dorchester (Article in monograph). SDO10040.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:29PM