Monument record MDO18445 - Poundbury Post-Roman pit group iii

Post-Roman Pit group iii comprised a complex of eight large hollows and 13 small pits or postholes to the east of the late Roman mausolea R9 and R10, which possibly may have still been extant in the post-Roman period, discovered during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. These pits were grouped around (and were possibly cut by) post-Roman grain drier 3. No clear pattern of pits could be discerned, but the majority lay in two groups, one at the south end of the drier, and one scattered north of it. These shallow eroded circular or oval hollows appear to have no particular function except perhaps as quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production. Pit group iii was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2b, PR3a, PR15, PR16 and possibly PR14; pit groups ii-v; grain driers 1,2,3 & 5 to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement on the site of the late Roman cemetery.

Found during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1979 during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published excavation report and archive (1)(2). Further refinement of the post-Roman settlement sequence has been undertaken by Christopher Sparey Green since the initial publication of the site and this has been taken into account in the following description (3) (4). Post-Roman pit group iii comprised a complex of eight large hollows and 13 small pits or postholes to the east of the late Roman mausolea R9 and R10, which possibly may have still been extant in the post-Roman period. These pits were grouped around (and possibly cut by) post-Roman grain drier 3. No clear pattern of pits could be discerned, but the majority lay in two groups, one at the south end of the drier, and one scattered north of it. All the pits were irregular scoops in the chalk from 1.2m to 3.0m in diameter and up to 0.75m deep. The lower fill tended to be grey-brown soil and chalk rubble with a little stone rubble, the upper darker in colour and containing more limestone and Ham stone rubble. The smaller pits and post-holes were not clearly defined among so many other features but most were rounded hollows in the chalk between 0.6m and 0.9m diameter and 0.25-0.75m deep. Their fill was indistinguishable from that of the pits. These shallow eroded circular or oval hollows appear to have no particular function except perhaps as quarries for chalk or chalky soil employed in cob production. This pit complex was cut by the ditches of post-Roman enclosure PR5. Pit group iii was one of six clusters of pits assigned to phase 5A (1). In a later reappraisal of the post-Roman settlements, this feature was assigned, along with buildings PR1a, PR2a, PR3a, PR5, PR15, and possibly PR14; pit groups ii-v; grain driers 1,2,3 & 5 to phase 1 of the post-Roman settlement. This represented the earliest post-Roman settlement on the site of the late Roman cemetery (4).

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:30PM