Monument record MDO19024 - South Grove Cottage, Trinity Street, Dorchester; Roman Building

The remains of Roman building, probably dating to the fourth century, were found during excavations to the rear of South Grove Cottage, Trinity Street, Dorchester in 1938. This building was robbed and parts of two rooms were exposed.

The remains of a Roman building were discovered in 1938 during an excavation to the rear of South Grove Cottage, Trinity Street, Dorchester. Only a small part of this building was exposed comprising a rectangular room (Room 1) to the north, attached to another room (Room 2) to the south. This appears to have been the northern end of a building aligned almost north-south. Room 1 was completely exposed and measured 18 ft by 14 ft (5.5 m by 4.25 m) internally. Only a very small part of Room 2 was excavated. The building was defined by flint footings, with the remains of a limestone wall, laid in herringbone fashion, surviving along the south side of Room 1. No traces of an entrance into Room 1 were identified and no trace of a doorway connecting Rooms 1 and 2 was found. An area of rough stone paving was found to the west of Room 1.

A floor comprising earth, partially and crudely paved with broken limestone roofing tiles, was identified by the excavator, though this seemed to lie below the level of the top of the wall footings, so is probably not the floor of this building. More likely, it is an earlier deposit that was cut through by the construction trench for the footings of the building. Two infant burials were found cut into this 'floor' layer. This ‘floor’ was sealed beneath what was described as an occupation layer – a thin layer of silt and roof tiles – which contained six bronze coins of third and fourth century AD date, together with New Forest pottery. This was covered, in turn, by a layer of stone rubble, within which was found a coin of Valentinian II (AD375-392). It seems more likely that both the silty layer and the rubble layer above are both the result of robbing and no floor or occupation deposits contemporary with the use of the building survive. A hearth is recorded in the north-west corner of Room 2. This appears to partially overlay the footings of the wall and its relationship to the levels within the building are not clear. It appears to have been roughly oval and comprises flint, stone and mortar. <1-2>

The date of the building appears to be in the fourth century as some fourth century pottery was found in the layers beneath the ‘floor’ of the building. <3>

<1> Kirk, G E, 1938, South Grove Cottage, Trinity Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9780.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1940, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1939, 48-59 (Serial). SDO13165.

<3> Kirk, G E, 1939, A Roman site in Trinity Street, Dorchester. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 48-59 (Article in serial). SDO9762.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 562, no. 191 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410259 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:35PM