EDO4160 - 20/21 North Square, Dorchester; desk-based assessment 1995

AC Archaeology conducted a desk-based assessment of land at 20/21 North Square, Dorchester, in advance of a planning application for development of the site for housing. A review of existing archaeological and historical data showed that there is positive evidence for Roman deposits on the site. Although the original extent of these has been reduced by 19th and 20th century land use, there is a high probability that further deposits exist across much of the site. Burgage houses existed in the vicinity of the site by the late 14th century and it is likely that both the North Square and the Friary Lane street frontages have been built up more or less continuously since. The area may have suffered in the 1613 fire and been rebuilt. In the 18th century the site was occupied by two high-status houses fronting North Square. Considerable rebuilding and rearrangement took place during the 1830s, including the building of a row of cottages at the rear of the site. No. 20 North Square was a public house from the mid-19th century until recent years; No. 21 was used as an office or a shop; the cottages to the rear of the site (Friary Buildings) were demolished in the 1960s or 1970s. The ownership/occupancy of the site can be traced from c. 1730 to the present. The desk-based assessement was subsequently followed by an evaluation of the site.