Monument record MDO5595 - Late Roman pit, Gussage All Saints

Late fourth century Roman pit discovered by deep ploughing and army bomb disposal activities. The pit contained significant quantities of stone roof tile and fired clay, together with late Roman pottery, coins, animal bone and oyster shell. The fired clay and roof tile suggest a substantial Roman building in the vicinity.

A late Roman pit was discovered when a void was found during deep ploughing in the winter of 1975. A bomb disposal team was called in and exposed a pit and removed soil down to a depth of 3.2 m without archaeological supervision before concluding it was not a result of military activity. The remainder of the pit was excavated archaeologically.

The pit was sealed beneath over one metre of colluvium and the base was 3.66 m below ground level. The full shape and dimensions of the pit were not recoverable because of the army activity, but it was about 1.2m wide at the top and tapered to about 0.9 m at the base. The excavated lower fill contained fired clay and Purbeck stone roof tiles and a small quantity of pottery. Further pottery, animal bone, oyster shell, iron nails and five late Roman coins were recovered by sieving the spoil removed by the army. The roof tile and fired clay implies the presence of a substantial Roman building nearby. The pottery and coins suggest a date of AD 360/70-400 for the filling of the pit.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1988, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1987, 133-134 (Serial). SDO87.

Record last edited

Sep 11 2013 11:28AM