Monument record MDO18735 - Wadham House Post Medieval Pits

Evidence for Post Medieval pits was discovered during excavations behind Wadham House, High West Street, Dorchester in 1968. The truncated remains of four pits were discovered, all cut into the natural chalk, but truncated above that level. Pit 4 was cut through Roman street A and measured 2.5m x 0.75m x 0.25m deep. It contained a few large flints in black soil and appeared to date from the mid 16th century. Pit 5measured 2m x 0.75m x 0.2m deep and contained a little yellowish mortar within a brown soil. Pit 6 measured 2m x 0.5m x 0.4m deep and contained a yellow-brown mortary soil and rubble consisting of few fragments of limestone, slate, flints and chalk nodules. Pit 7 measured 2.5m x 0.75m x 0.3m deep and contained brown soil with a few fragments of limestone, flints and slate. All seemed, from the pottery and clay pipes they contained, to date from the late 17th to the early 18th century.

Found during the excavation of a 27.5m x 3m trench during December and January 1968-9, dug in advance of the redevelopment of the back garden of Wadham House, 50 High West Street, Dorchester. The Excavation has been published as part of the ‘Dorchester Excavations Volume 1’ (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph 2) (1).

The post-medieval digging of the site has disturbed all medieval and late Roman levels, in some places down to the solid chalk.

The truncated remains of four pits were discovered, all cut into the natural chalk, but truncated above that level. Pit 4 was cut through Roman street A and measured 2.5m x 0.75m x 0.25m deep. It contained a few large flints in black soil and appeared to date from the mid 16th century. Pit 5measured 2m x 0.75m x 0.2m deep and contained a little yellowish mortar within a brown soil. Pit 6 measured 2m x 0.5m x 0.4m deep and contained a yellow-brown mortary soil and rubble consisting of few fragments of limestone, slate, flints and chalk nodules. Pit 7 measured 2.5m x 0.75m x 0.3m deep and contained brown soil with a few fragments of limestone, flints and slate. All seemed, from the pottery and clay pipes they contained, to date from the late 17th to the early 18th century.

Post-dating these pits, the area appears to have been dug over to a considerable depth representing mid 18th to late 19th century garden activity.

<1> Draper, J, and Chaplin, C, 1982, Dorchester Excavations Volume 1: Excavations at Wadham House 1968; Dorchester Prison 1970, 1975 and 1978; and Glyde Path Road 1966, 3-26 (Monograph). SDO9690.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:31PM