Listed 10 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "DORSET County ENGLAND" .
DORCHESTER (Town) ENGLAND
Durnovaria (Dorchester) Dorset, England.
The town lies 9.6 km inland from Weymouth Bay, 3.2 km N of the Iron Age hill fort
of Maiden Castle. Occupation probably began in A.D. 44 immediately following the
destruction of Maiden Castle by Legio II Augusta under the command of Vespasian.
There is some evidence to suggest the presence of a military garrison on the site,
but by A.D. 70 civilian development had superseded it and Durnovaria became the
cantonal capital of the Durotriges. It flourished as a Roman town into the early
5th c. and has continued to be occupied until the present day.
In the 2d c. the town was defended by an earthen bank and ditch system,
strengthened in the 3d c. by the addition of a stone wall. The core of the wall
is visible at only one point, near the W gate, but the line of the defenses, which
enclosed some 28-32 ha, can still be traced. The defended area is now heavily
built upon and largely unavailable for excavation, but parts of a regular street
grid have come to light together with fragmentary evidence for a number of town
houses.
The most substantial area to be explored lies in the NW corner in
Colliton Park (excavations 1937-39, 1961-63). Parts of nine buildings have been
exposed together with a street and a substantial culvert. Most of the structures
were industrial (stores and workshops), and were provided with ovens, hearths,
and a smithy. Only one building was definitely a dwelling: it was a house of some
quality adorned with seven mosaic pavements. Excavation in the SW quarter (1969-70)
has shown that here too industrial buildings predominated. Although structural
evidence from elsewhere in the town is fragmentary, and no public buildings have
yet been identified, the general impression is that of a densely built-up area
containing closely packed buildings most of which were, by the 4th c., constructed
in masonry. Stylistic consideration of the mosaic pavements has suggested the
presence of a school of mosaicists working in the area in the early years of the
4th c.
The town was served by an aqueduct over 19 km long (the longest in
Britain). It was an open leet following the contours of the hills W of the town,
entering the walled area in the vicinity of the W gate; thereafter its course
is unknown. The amphitheater lay 0.4 km outside the S gate, close to the road
to Weymouth Bay. The earthwork had originally been constructed in the Neolithic
period as a henge monument. Roman modification entailed lowering the arena floor
and heightening the bank, together with the construction of a fenced passage around
the arena and chambers for beasts and performers.
Large inhumation cemeteries are known on all sides of the town, particularly
outside the E and W gates. At the Poundbury cemetery (W of the town) some of the
burials were in stone sarcophagi and lead coffins; one was in a mausoleum with
elaborately painted walls. It is likely that some, at least, of the burials here
are Christian. Other evidence of Christianity consists of a hoard, found in Somerleigh
Court, containing more than 50 siliquae, five spoons, and a ligula, deposited
ca. A.D. 400. One of the spoons is inscribed AVGVSTINE VIVAS and another bears
the sign of a fish.
While the main function of the town was to serve as the administrative
center of the Durotriges, its economic importance is clear. Purbeck stone, marble,
Kimmeridge shale, and pottery from the New Forest and Poole Harbour production
centers all passed through its markets.
B.W. Cunliffe, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
