EXCAVATIONS AT DORCHESTER. 3 



appear to be a portion of the Roman work, but may well 

 have been cut when Dorchester was prepared for defence 

 against the Royalists. From Trinity Street to West Walks 

 the drainage conduit was made by tunnelling, and where 

 shafts were sunk, solid cha]k was reached at a depth of about 

 7ft., having a level upper surface, probably, therefore, under 

 the site of the wall. 



The direction of the conduit can be traced by the iron 

 covers to manholes marked " Surface drainage." 



The Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club contain two 

 papers connected with this subject, one by the Rev. W. Miles 

 Barnes, dealing with " Roman fortification, with special 

 reference to the Roman defences of Dorchester." (Vol XII., 

 1891, page 135), the other by Mr. H. J. Moule, " Notes on the 

 Walls and Gates of Durnovaria," (Vol. XIV., page 44). In 

 his book " Dorchester Antiquities," Mr. Moule records some 

 interesting discoveries, the result of excavations. On the 

 West side of the town, during the construction of a flight of 

 steps on Grove Hill, opposite Christ Church, the scarp of the 

 Roman wall was plainly seen. "The chalk seemed to have been 

 cut to a good even face, and perhaps in modern times covered 

 with from one to two feet of earth." Colliton Walk itself is 

 on, or nearly at the top of, the ancient wall ; and within the 

 boundary wall of Colliton Park, and parallel with the walk, 

 there is still to be seen a grass bank, obviously a portion of 

 the original defences. 



In 1896 a drain was carried from the angle of West Walks 

 and Bowling Alley Walks to the Great Western Road. A sec- 

 tion drawn by the Borough Surveyor shews a portion of the 

 ancient scarp and the ditch, and also two ridges or banks of 

 solid chalk about 6ft. high, rising from the level of the bottom 

 of the ditch. 



Again, when South Court and stables were built at the East- 

 ern end of South Walks, and therefore at exactly the opposite 

 corner of the Roman defences to that last described, very 

 similar features were discovered in connection with the original 

 ditch, i.e., outlying banks. They were measured and drawn 



