EDO4426 - Colliton Park, Dorchester; excavation 1949

In September and October 1949 R.A.H. Farrar excavated a U-shaped pit with undercut sides identified in 1947 during the cutting back of earth for the construction of a right angled brick retaining wall. A patchy floor of rammed chalk lay above the pit and pottery recovered from the floor and the pit included Romano-British and medieval wares, proving that the pit was no earlier than the 12-13th century in date. The fill was a uniform black earth suggesting that the pit had been dug to dispose of a single dump of rubbish. The pit was cut through a late Roman make-up layer deposited in order to level the natural chalk surface which shelved abruptly at this point. A war memorial garden has since been laid out over the site.