Building record MWX3626 - Roman stone building at Bowleaze Cove, Preston, Weymouth

In July 1969 excavations took place on a stone building at Bowleaze Cove. The building had been seen for a number of years, becoming more and more exposed and damaged by cliff-falls. The excavation revealed little as the building had been severely truncated by cliff falls.

Excavations were carried out on a substantial stone building that had been revealed by cliff falls over a number of years in July 1969. Two wall foundations and a floor of a stone building were visible in the upper cliff-face. The erosion here Putnam noted was extremely fast and could measure up to 2 to 3m a year. A section of the wall foundations had been recorded by the RCHM in 1953. Upon excavation it was revealed that only the N wall of the structure remained. It was 17m long with a short return at each end southwards to the cliff-face. Putnam saw this as a different structure to the one recorded by the RCHM in 1953 as the overall width of the structure they recorded was 7m. Of what little survived, the foundations were 1m deep, built of large rounded stones set in puddled clay. One course of roughly dressed stones survived set in a whitish mortar and was approximately 0.7m wide. The interior of the structure has some surviving floor made of broken stone and mortar with more finely broken stone on top. The walls had probably been robbed out to the floor surface, but Putnam suggests the walls may not have been any higher than this noting the absence of stone and mortar debris in the soil above the structure and the lack of any substantial occupational accumulation inside or outside the building. The floor sealed substantial pottery sherds of the 3rd and 4th century AD. In light of this and the prevalence of Roman material in the vicinity it is likely the building is Roman in date. (1)

Record last edited

Apr 3 2021 3:04PM