EDO3773 - Old Methodist Chapel, South Street, Dorchester; excavations 1982

Excavations were undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 1982, prior to redevelopment of the site of the South Street Methodist Chapel, which was demolished in 1981. Demolition of the chapel completely removed all above ground traces of the building and the site was cleared down to a level at which the cellars of pre-existing buildings in the NE of the site could be recognised. The excavations comprised three excavation trenches divided by narrow baulks and covered an area of about 190m2. The results of the excavation were briefly summarised in an interim report (1) and the results were fully published together with the excavations at the adjacent Greyhound Yard site (2). The excavations revealed an important sequence of Roman activity on the northern frontage of one of the central insulae of the Roman town. Traces of a Roman street were found running E-W along the northern edge of the excavation and this road appeared to be a primary feature in the Roman town. In the late 1st-early 2nd century AD a water pipe was added along the southern side of this road. Traces of 1st century AD timber buildings were found along the street frontage, which were later replaced by stone buildings in the later 2nd-3rd century AD. These buildings went through a number of modifications. Medieval evidence comprised the remains of a cellar of a building which cut through the Roman road in the NW corner of the excavation. Beneath the floor of the cellar was a stone lined pit in which some 16tn century pottery was found. To the east of the cellar, the evidence was largely restricted to a number of pits. Overlying the medieval features were the remains of two post-medieval buildings, both of which are clearly identified on historic maps. In the NE corner was a stone building with a cellar which was a substantial rebuilding of the earlier one. The other building was identified as the Wood and Stone Inn.