EDO4425 - Dorset County Hospital Annexe, Somerleigh Road, Dorchester; observations and recording 1949

A Roman Street almost parallel with Somerleigh Road was observed and traced for about 15m by R A H Farrar during the building of a new annexe to the Dorset County Hospital in October 1949. The road metalling was visible in one complete and two partial sections in the sides of builders foundation trenches. The road was about 6m wide and 0.3m thick, consisting of well grouted gravel and flints on a foundation of two layers of gravel and flints bedded in clay and separated by a layer of rammed chalk, the whole resting on the weathered surface of chalk rock. A gutter was visible on the east side and ruts and pot-holes had been repaired c. 330 AD or later. The street was aligned approximately N-S. Four rubbish pits were observed; one late Roman, two medieval and one 17th century. A chalk floor of Roman date was revealed about 2.1m below the surface in the angle between the front of the main hospital building and its southern wing.