EDO4420 - County Constabulary Barracks, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester; excavation 1952

Five extended skeletons were found during the construction of a new single-quarters wing at the Police Barracks adjoining Maumbury Rings during 1952. Only one of the five burials was examined before disturbance was complete, the remaining skeletons were observed after the bones had been lifted by workmen. This burial yielded two spring-pinned fibulae of 1st century type, one with a pierced catchplate. The skeleton was in a chalk cut grave, as were all the others,except one which was in a stone cist [1]. A further possible burial may be indicated by the substantial remains of a group of vessels, probably undamaged when discovered and dating to the late 1st or early 2nd century AD [2]. Together with other burials discovered nearby, they indicate the presence of a cemetery of simple graves flanking the road to Radipole [1].