EDO4880 - Colliton Street Youth Centre, Colliton Street, Dorchester; excavation and observations and recording 1999-2000

AC archaeology carried out a programme of limited excavation and watching briefs during the development of the site of the former Colliton Street Youth Centre, Colliton Street, Dorchester in 1999. This site had been previously the subject of an archaeological evaluation by Wessex Archaeology in 1997 (1). The following notes have been extracted from the site archive. (2) Two trenches were excavated: Area A was in the NW corner of the site and Area B was in the southwest corner. Area A revealed a post-medieval wall and associated metalled surface. A small Roman pit was also found. Area A was on the line of the medieval castle ditches, but the excavation was not deep enough to determine whether these ditches crossed this area. Area B revealed a number of Roman pits and postholes. The watching brief revealed the remains of a post-medieval building in the NE corner of the site and traces of the medieval castle ditch running across the northern part of the area. A post-medieval cellar was cut into the ditch fills in the NE corner of the site. A number of Roman pits were found in the centre and the southwest corner of the site. Along the Colliton Street frontage were deep soils and much disturbance from former buildings along the frontage. A service trench across Colliton Street revealed nothing more than backfilled service trenches.