EDO4458 - Stables, later ambulance garage, Princes Street, Dorchester; excavation 1898 to 1899

Roman silver spoons found in 1898 or 1899 on the Somerleigh Court estate in building the stables, later ambulance garages fronting on Princes Street to the NW of the Old County Hospital [1]. They were found in association with over fifty Roman coins, all siliquae dating from Julian II to Honorius (AD360-400). [the coins were to be published by Mattingley in Num Chron later that year – did that happen?]. Also a silver object associated, which may be a manicure knife. A probable Christian attribution of these spoons, based on the inscription AVGUSTINE VIVAS on one bowl and the engraving of a fish on another. The animal’s heads on the volutes of some of the spoons are considered to be Teutonic, probably Frankish, and a northern French origin is proposed [2].