Monument record MDO18258 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Infant burial 1466

An infant burial was found adjacent to the footings for the western wall of the later Roman rectangular stone building 1611/1612 in Trench 4, during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. This burial was one of four infant burials associated with this building and was probably a foundation deposit.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1989 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2) (3) (4). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (4). Infant burial 1466 lay against the western wall of Structure 1611/1612 in Trench 4, near its northern end. The burial was badly disturbed and less than half of the bones survived. It was the remains of a neonate, but it was not possible to determine the posture or orientation. No grave cut was recognised, but the burial was sealed by one of the occupation deposits within Building 1611/1612 and it is likely to have been a foundation deposit.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 12:27PM