EDO4475 - Somerleigh Court, Dorchester

Parts of a tesselated floor were found during the digging of the foundations for Somerleigh Court in 1862, but no further information about this survives (1) (2). In 1863, whilst digging a drain to the south of the house another tesselated floor was found (3) (4) (5) (6). This appears to have been found in April 1863 (3), then covered over and re-exposed in August 1863 (4). This tesselated floor lay under the lawn just south of the house (5). Some stone roof tiles were found overlying the floor (6). The tesselated floor had been greatly damaged by later disturbances but a drawing was made of a corner of it (reproduced in Moule 1901 (fig. 1) (1)) and a photograph taken by Mr. Pouncy (not traced) (7). The mosaic comprised parts of two rectangular panels at right angles to each other. One panel had a series of intersecting circles with heart-shaped leaves in the centre and the other had a running pelta design. This mosaic may be from the corner of a porticus (8).