EDO5458 - Nave of Wimborne Minster; salvage recording 1961

In 1961 the whole of the floor of the minster was lifted and relaid in concrete. The architect, Mr R K Brett, reported to Ray Farrar that 'Whilst renewing the floors in 1961-2 we came across many burials up to 4 or 5 ft. below floor level, but we did not dig down and expose the underside of the foundations or any of the walls or piers, and so their depth is unknown to me; but the widening at the base of the aisle walls suggests that they are only about 2 ft. below floor level.' The area where a Roman pavement had been observed in 1857 was left to last. The pavement was exposed at a depth of around nine inches, a good nine inches higher than anticipated from the earlier reports. A small patch, approximately twelve inches by eight inches, of pavement was discovered, of red and light grey tesserae, plus a similarly sized area of soling from which the tesserae had been dislodged. (1)