Monument record MDO18586 - Alington Avenue Roman Structure 3651/1946

Evidence for a Roman structure was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue. This structure comprised a couple of wall footings [3651] & [1946] within the cemetery area, which may be associated with the cemetery, judging from the spatial relationship with the graves. The more substantial possible footing [3651] was a 6m x 0.7m setting of flint nodules, clay and limestone tile fragments, 0.2m deep and bonded in puddled chalk which cut across the southern ditch of the phase 1 D-shaped enclosure. The other possible footing [1946] lay at right angles to the other but separated from it by a 1m gap. The two could be combined to form part of a putative building. The fact that several 3rd century graves were aligned with it might suggest that it was a mausoleum or small funerary enclosure, with [1946] serving as a dividing wall within the cemetery area.

Found during a series of archaeological evaluations and excavations conducted by Wessex Archaeology at Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester, between 1984-1987. The results of the excavations have been published as a Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph (DNHAS Monograph 15). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published reports (1). This structure comprised a couple of wall footings [3651] & [1946] within the cemetery area, which may be associated with the cemetery, judging from the spatial relationship with the graves. The more substantial possible footing [3651] was a 6m x 0.7m setting of flint nodules, clay and limestone tile fragments, 0.2m deep and bonded in puddled chalk which cut across the southern ditch of the phase 1 D-shaped enclosure. The other possible footing [1946] lay at right angles to the other but separated from it by a 1m gap. This was a shallow trench with an upper fill of 70% limestone and flint rubble extending over a distance of 9m. this trench appeared to continue to the west before turning south to form a rounded right angled corner, but no rubble was present in the continuation of the fill. The two could be combined to form part of a putative building. The fact that several 3rd century graves were aligned with it might suggest that it was a mausoleum or small funerary enclosure, with [1946] serving as a dividing wall within the cemetery area.

Record last edited

Dec 12 2018 5:47PM