Dorchester’s strategic location close to the Thames enabled it to become an important regional and trading centre. After the Romans invaded Britain, it became first a military garrison and after AD78 an extended walled civilian town. It was one of the smallest in Britain, with road connections to the rest of Roman Britain.
The Roman town lasted into the 5th century AD, but left no Roman buildings or other structures above ground. However, decades of excavation (still ongoing) shed light on four centuries of Roman presence – a walled town in a farming landscape with warehouses and barns, significant cemeteries, and potteries at Mount Farm and Queenford Farm.
A highlight of our collection is a model of a Roman house, based on one found in the allotments in the 1960s and further excavated during the early 21st century ‘Digging Dorchester’ project. Finds set around the model and in nearby display cases tell us much about Roman life in our village: its status, society, technology, trade, food, and games.
We have examples of tiles, pottery from different periods (much of it made locally), hundreds of coins, jewellery, domestic luxuries such as a mirror, a comb and tweezers, and evidence of the Roman diet including animal bones, snail and oyster shells. Other finds such as glass vessels and silver spoons (mostly deposited in nationally important museums) provide evidence of a more luxurious lifestyle, while rare finds such as a metal Medusa head and an ornate military belt buckle arouse our curiosity about their origins and purpose.
Dorchester’s strategic location close to the Thames enabled it to become an important regional and trading centre. After the Romans invaded Britain, it became first a military garrison and after AD78 an extended walled civilian town. It was one of the smallest in Britain, with road connections to the rest of Roman Britain.
The Roman town lasted into the 5th century AD, but left no Roman buildings or other structures above ground. However, decades of excavation (still ongoing) shed light on four centuries of Roman presence – a walled town in a farming landscape with warehouses and barns, significant cemeteries, and potteries at Mount Farm and Queenford Farm.
A highlight of our collection is a model of a Roman house, based on one found in the allotments in the 1960s and further excavated during the early 21st century ‘Digging Dorchester’ project. Finds set around the model and in nearby display cases tell us much about Roman life in our village: its status, society, technology, trade, food, and games.
We have examples of tiles, pottery from different periods (much of it made locally), hundreds of coins, jewellery, domestic luxuries such as a mirror, a comb and tweezers, and evidence of the Roman diet including animal bones, snail and oyster shells. Other finds such as glass vessels and silver spoons (mostly deposited in nationally important museums) provide evidence of a more luxurious lifestyle, while rare finds such as a metal Medusa head and an ornate military belt buckle arouse our curiosity about their origins and purpose.
