EDO4120 - Dorchester Post Office Site, Evaluation Trench 1

In September 2005 Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation of land proposed for redevelopment at the rear of Dorchester Post Office, 43 South Street, Dorchester. Trench 1 was situated in the courtyard behind the Main Post Office building. It measured 2m x 3m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.98m. It contained a shallow pit (1.1m long, 0.58m wide and 0.36m deep with a concave base) in the SW of the trench, and an oven/kiln at the southern end of the trench, both cut into a possible remnant floor surface. The pit contained some 1st century Romano-British pottery, not closely dateable, in its fills. The oven/kiln comprised a vertical cylindrical chamber lined with a mixture of mortar and chalk, with a rectangular/square shallow scoop that extended beyond the trench to the north. The fills contained Romano-British pottery and was sealed by a layer of ceramic tiles.