Monument record MDO19049 - All Saints Road, Dorchester; Roman building

The former presence of a Roman building is suggested by the possible discovery of a Roman tessellated floor during the construction of houses on the northern side of All Saints' Road in c. 1908. The floor was either destroyed or reburied. This possible siting of a mosaic may be associated with other sitings of tessellated floors in the immediate vicinity, under All Saints' Road and at 18 Icen Way. These possibly all form part of a single house.

Roman building remains, mosaic pavements and floors exposed before 1908. A rectangular mosaic with an attached tessellated corridor was revealed in1897 and 1901. A lump of the corridor flooring is in the County Museum, but most of the mosaic tesserae were relaid in the High School, Massachusetts, and a few made up into a pattern in the porch of All Saints Rectory. <1-2>

The former presence of a Roman building is suggested by the possible discovery of a Roman tessellated floor during the construction of houses on the northern side of All Saints' Road in c. 1908. The floor was either destroyed or reburied ,2>. This possible siting of a mosaic may be associated with other sitings of tessellated floors in the immediate vicinity, under All Saints' Road and at 18 Icen Way. These possibly all form part of a single house.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1904, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1903, lxiii (Serial). SDO16.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 567, no. 204c (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Cosh, S R, and Neal, D S, 2005, Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume II South-west Britain, 106 (Monograph). SDO10182.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410267 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:35PM