Monument record MDO47733 - Roman and Medieval West Gate, Top O'Town, Dorchester

It has been conjectured that the end of Princes Street was the site of a gate on the west side of the town, and one of two gates shown on a small scale map made by John Speed in 1610.

The town wall is shown unbroken on the west side of Dorchester except for breaks for West Street and Prince's Street (the latter SY69SE348). No gates are named as such. <1>

The foundations of the west gate were observed at the top of High Street where they are marked on the OS map. <1>

The West Gate is documented in a deed of 1410, and was almost certainly on the site of the Roman gate. Two West gates are documented in October 1642. <2>

The area is covered by a modern road. The site of the gate falls on the line of the Roman wall. <4>

The Roman roads fro Ilchester and exeter indicate a West Gate at or near the top of the High West Street, (Top o' Town). It cannot be doubted that this was main if not the only Roman gate on this side. There is no firm evidence for the metalling of either approach road, and nothing to substantiate Miles Barnes' statement that the foundations of the gate were observed here. The presence of a tessellated pavement under High West Street within 50 yards of this spot, surely implying that the principal street, or decumanus maximus, ran either to the north or south of the present roadway, cannot be easily reconciled with a site at its head. On the reasonable assumptions that the decumanus ran straight between the east and west gates and conformed with normal closeness to the street grid, if the latter was not in fact set out from it, a West Gate rather to the south of the present roadway at Top o' Town seems probable. <5>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1891, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 142 (Serial). SDO7.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1893, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 50-54 (Serial). SDO8.

<2.1> Speed, John, 1610, Small scale plan of Dorchester (Map). SDO19854.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1 to 25 inch scale map, 1929 (Map). SDO18020.

[SY68939068] West Gate (site of)

<4> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 20-Aug-1954 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 549-550 (Monograph). SDO150.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1430750 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:41PM