Monument record MDO18635 - County Hall; ditched enclosure to the east of street 575

A ditched enclosure was discovered during excavations at County Hall in 1998 on the eastern side of the N-S street. It appears to date to the late 3rd or early 4th century and lay immediately north of the aisled building (Building V), excavated during the 1937-38 excavations at Colliton Park. A grain drier was was found within this enclosure, which may be associated with the aisled building to form part of an urban farm.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1988 prior to construction of the New Computer Wing and car parking facilities at County Hall, Dorchester (1) (2). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report (2).

The ditched enclosure comprised a series of N-S ditches running across the central area of the excavation. These ditches lay to the east of building [572] and street [575]. At least five individual ditches were identified, four of which were stratigraphically related, suggesting that this boundary may have been re-cut on at least four occasions. The ditches generally had a U-profile with flattish bases. They were deepest at the south end of the excavation (up to 0.7m), becoming shallower towards the north, where they terminated. A soil mark to the north of these terminals suggested that the ditches may originally have turned through a right angle to the east. Two parallel, shallow linear ditches, aligned E-W in the NE area of the excavation, may be associated with this ditch system. Together these ditches form the west and north limits of an enclosure defining an area (0.05 ha.) comprising most of the eastern half of the excavation. This enclosure lies immediately north of the aisled building (Building V) found during the 1937-38 excavations at Colliton Park (3) and may be associated with it.

The dark silty-loam fills of these ditches contained material of a late Roman date, although the pottery sherds tended be small and abraded. This material included a late 3rd century coin, and a 4th century coin of Constans. The upper fills contained small amounts of medieval and post-medieval pottery, probably as a result of mixing or subsidence. One of the ditches cut the upper layers of pit [202], which had been backfilled by the early 3rd century.

A pear shaped pit (graindrier [116]) was located east of the western enclosure boundary, 2.9m long and aligned N-S with a U-profile at its southern end and more square-profiled and steep-sided at its northern end. An ash fill at the northern end suggests a stoke pit and limestone rubble at the southern end may have derived from a superstructure. Samples indicated that it had been used for drying barley. The grain had already been cleaned suggesting that it was processed close to source and brought into town for storage, possibly in the aisled building which lies jus to the south of the enclosure.

Drew, C D, and Collingwood Selby, K C, 1938, 'The Excavations at Colliton Park, Dorchester: Second Interim report; Excavations carried out in the season of 1938' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 59 (Article in serial). SDO9765.

Wessex Archaeology, 1988, County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10074.

<1> Smith, R J C, 1993, Excavations at County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, 1988 in the North-West Quarter of Durnovaria (Monograph). SDO9660.

<2> Smith, R J C, 1988, 'Excavations at County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, 1988' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 147 (Article in serial). SDO9661.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:30PM