EDO4474 - Somerleigh Court, Dorchester

Part of a Roman wall and a tessellated pavement was uncovered in c. 1875, when a pipe trench was dug across the lawn of Somerleigh Court (1) (2) (3). The position of this discovery was described by Robert Edgecumbe in letters to H. J. Moule (2) (3). The exposed wall was apparently very thick, about 6ft thick (1.8m), constructed of mortared flint with some in situ red painted wall plaster on the wall face adjacent to the tesselated floor remains. The floor was plain red and white and composed of large tesserae (c. 1in square) (2) (5). This area was excavated in 1963 and the thick wall seen in c. 1875 was identified as two parallel walls with the gap between filled with fallen masonry (4).