Monument record MDO18856 - Eighteenth/nineteenth century drain west of Dorchester Prison gatehouse

A late eighteenth or early nineteenth century brick-and-stone-lined drain was found immediately west of the Dorchester Prison gatehouse in 1978. A large number of broken glass bottles were used in its construction.

A brick-and-stone-lined drain was found immediately west of the gatehouse to Dorchester Prison during a watching brief carried out in 1978. The drain ran alongside the footings to the gatehouse and drained through the prison wall down towards the river. The sides and base of the drain were of dark red brick and it was capped with stone slabs. A large quantity of broken glass bottles were incorporated into the structure and the drainage channel also contained broken bottles. The drain measured about 0.7 m wide and 0.5 m high externally, with an internal bore of 0.2 m square. This drain was constructed later than the gatehouse and the bottles suggest a construction date in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. An 1824 plan of the prison drains suggests this drain ran from a building built sometime between the original date of the prison in 1789 and 1824.

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, 95-97 (Monograph). SDO9690.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:32PM