SDO9582 - Excavation of Tree Pits at the Member’s Car Park, County Hall, Dorchester, Dorset

The archaeological excavation of six tree pits in the Members' car park, County Hall, Dorchester, was carried out by AC archaeology during late April 2000. The site lies within the defences of the former Roman town in its north-west zone. This area contains extensive evidence for Romano-British occupation; buildings and other features of this date have been excavated at the County Library site to the west, in the area of County Hall to the north and at the Merchants Garage and Wadham House sites to the south. All six tree pits revealed evidence for archaeological activity of the Romano-British period from a depth averaging 400mm below the present ground surface and, in each case, sealed by a post-medieval soil deposit. Tree Pits 1, 3 and 5 contained structural remains in the form of wall foundations and surface levels, whilst Tree Pits 4 and 6 contained cut features such as pits. Only in Tree Pit 2 were there no features or intact structural deposits evident, with only a probable demolition layer evident at 800mm below the ground surface. It is possible that the presence of a deep post-medieval soil horizon in this Tree pit may represent part of some later activity which may have removed any substantial Romano-British deposits formerly present. It is considered likely that the structural deposits identified represent the remains of domestic buildings of AD 3rd/4th century date.