EDO6056 - Trinity Street, Dorchester; evaluation 2013

An evaluation comprising the excavation by machine of three trenches, each 15m by 2m. This revealed a broadly-similar stratigraphic sequence in all three trenches: 0.45m to 0.54m of tarmac, sub-base, and modern made ground, with a further layer of made ground in Trench 2 and Trench 3, on top of a deep, humic garden soil thought to be post-medieval in date. This garden soil layer was significantly deeper in Trench 3, in the southern part of the site, suggesting that the ground originally sloped southwards in this area. Beneath these layers was a dark humic deposit thought likely to represent a Roman deposit, and encountered at depths varying from 1.68m and 2.30m below modern ground level. Stone and possible masonry fragments seen particularly in Trench 2 and the eastern part of Trench 3 suggested possible demolition debris. In Trench 1 a pale silty deposit, considered possibly to represent the top of weathered natural chalk, was encountered at a depth of 2.5m to 2.95m below ground level. A north-south wall cutting into the post-medieval soil was observed in Trench 3.