EDO4750 - Colliton Street, Dorchester; Trench 3

In September 1997 Wessex Archaeology undertook a watching brief on four machine-dug trenches dug as part of improvements to two WDDC car parks in Colliton Street. Very little time was available for the observations. Trench 3 was an L-shaped trench in the NW corner of the western car park on the east side of the junction between Colliton Street and Grey School Passage. It measured about 5.8m long with a width of 0.8m and a maximum depth of 1.3m. Chalk bedrock was exposed at the base of the trench. Overlying the chalk was a series of soil layers up to 0.5m thick. These soils were cut by a steep-sided ditch running roughly NNW-SSE and was filled with dark brown chalky soil containing a number of sherds of Black-burnished ware Roman pottery and one sherd of 4th century AD Oxford shire colour-coated ware.