Monument record MDO19055 - All Saints Glebe, Dorchester; Roman building

Part of a Roman building consisting of a rectangular mosaic of red and grey chequers, with an attached tessellated corridor of grey tesserae to the NE, was revealed in 1897 and 1901 when All Saints Road was constructed. Part of the pavement was relaid in the All Saints Rectory porch and part was relaid in Dorchester High School, Massachusets.

A rectangular mosaic 20ft x 10ft , with an attached tessellated corridor to the NE, was revealed in 1897 and 1901 when All Saints Road was made (1). In other sources only work in 1897 is mentioned [2][3][4].

The land had formerly been All Saints Glebe, but had been sold in 1897 to build new houses and All Saints Road. The land was lowered and laid out for building when the pavement was seen [2].

The main part of the pavement was laid out in red an grey chequers, whilst the corridor (3-4ft wide and at least 60ft long) was composed of grey tesserae [5].

Part of the pavement was relaid in the All Saints Rectory porch and part was originally offered to Boston, Mass. Library but ended up in Dorchester High School, Mass.[3][4].

Miles Barnes, W, 1903, 'The Annual Business Meeting' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club (Article in serial). SDO9791.

<1> 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. 204a (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(204) Building Remains, mosaic pavements and floors, exposed before c. 1908 in and near All Saints' Road, were at a higher level than the foregoing remains to the N. and may have belonged to a single house.
(a) A rectangular mosaic 20 ft. by 10 ft., with an attached tessellated corridor to the N.E., was revealed in 1897 and 1901 when All Saints' Road was made (69559052). The pavement, lying N.W. to S.E. across the road at the junction with Icen Way, was a red and light grey chessboard pattern of coarse tesserae with a blue-grey surround. The corridor, with a floor some 3 ft. wide of light grey tesserae apparently varied with a band or bands of red along the sides, ran from the N.E. angle of the mosaic for some 60 ft. alongside the N. pavement of the road. A lump of the corridor floor is in D.C.M., but most of the mosaic tesserae were relaid in the High School, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and a few made up into a pattern in the porch of All Saints' Rectory. (Plan, Dorset Album I, part ii, f. 14, in D.C.M.; Moule, 37; Moule MS., 4–5; D.C.C., 14th May 1903; Dorset Procs. XXIV (1903), xliii.)’

<2> Moule, H J, 1901, Dorchester Antiquities, 16-17 (Bibliographic reference). SDO9439.

<3> Anon, 1903, 'The Alienation of the All Saints’ Roman Pavement' Dorset County Chronicle (Article in serial). SDO9784.

<4> Howard, A W, 1906, 'The Roman Pavement' The Item (Article in serial). SDO9785.

<5> Cosh, S R, and Neal, D S, 2005, Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume II South-west Britain, 106 (Monograph). SDO10182.

Record last edited

Dec 15 2025 3:23PM