Monument record MDO18615 - Colliton Park, Dorchester; Roman Building VI

The fragmentary remains of a Roman building were exposed in the central part of Colliton Park during excavations in 1937 and 1938. Building VI lay to the southwest of Building V and immediately to the west of the N-S Roman road that crossed Colliton Park, but was not aligned on it, indeed its southeast corner impinged on the road, overlying the earlier metalling. It was very poorly preserved and many of the walls were fragmentary. It appears to be the remains of a house arranged on at least two sides of a small courtyard. The full ground plan cannot be reconstructed from the surviving remains and only two rooms, both of which had tessellated floors, on the west side of the courtyard can be defined. The dating of this building is uncertain, but it was probably in use during the 4th century.

(Centred at SY 69009090) Six Roman buildings found in Colliton Park, by Lt Col Drew and Mr Collingwood Selby prior to the erection of a new County Hall. Building 6, had two tessellated floors, but was severely damaged. The fragmentary remains of a Roman building were exposed in the central part of Colliton Park during excavations in 1937 and 1938. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the excavations were never completed or written up. The following account is based on the interim report <3> and the Royal Commission Inventory entry <5>. Building VI lay to the southwest of Building V and immediately to the west of the N-S Roman road that crossed Colliton Park, but was not aligned on it, indeed its southeast corner impinged on the road, overlying the earlier metalling. It was very poorly preserved and many of the walls were fragmentary. It appears to be the remains of a house arranged on at least two sides of a small courtyard. The full ground plan cannot be reconstructed from the surviving remains and only two rooms, both of which had tessellated floors, on the west side of the courtyard can be defined. The northern room had only parts of the north, south and west walls surviving. The tessellated floor was fragmentary, but has been reconstructed as having a central square panel containing a central circle with semicircular panels on the sides and quadrants in the corners. The one surviving quadrant contains a calyx urn and the one surviving semicircle contains an outward-pointing pelta surmounted by a bud. The central panel was enclosed in a border of spaced swastika-meander with rectangles infilled with guilloche . <6> The second room lay to the south and slightly off-line to the east and was a long narrow room, with only small fragments of the east and west walls surviving. The tessellated floor was elaborate and in three colours (red, white, dark blue-grey), with a central portion consisting of a single strip of intersecting octagons with alternate knot and triangle centres within a tripartite border of linked triangles, two strand guilloche and chevrons. The dating of this building is uncertain, but it was probably in use during the 4th century.

Record last edited

Mar 10 2024 5:29PM