Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc Proc 117

Discusses the Victorian expansion of the town beyond the line of its Roman defences, which was made possible in 1874 by the enclosure of the open fields of the adjacent village.

A street-by-street analysis of the properties listed in the `Dorchester Domesday' of 1395--1500 shows the tenement pattern of the late medieval town. The main streets were, unsurprisingly, densely developed, but on some side-streets houses were backed by open fields.

Reports on the excavation of a large, roughly rectangular enclosure that lies in an extensive ancient landscape including field systems and a Roman road. The bank and ditch were sectioned, and the interior were investigated by two small trenches. Occupation was predominantly of the Late Iron Age and early Roman periods, while in the third or fourth century AD the silted-up ditch was also used as a cemetery. Finds reports cover brooches, copper alloy objects, ironwork, fired clay (including briquetage and daub), slag, and stone. Specialist reports comprise: `The pottery' by Lisa Brown (72--6), `The Oakley Down cremations' by T F Spence (77), and `Cremated remains' by J McKinley (77).

An updated survey based on early map evidence (see also 97/1832).

Reports by several contributors covering recent assessments, evaluations, excavations, watching briefs, and finds. Longer items include `Excavations & fieldwork on the Dorchester Roman aqueduct 1995' by Bill Putnam & Ian Hewitt (128--31), `Survey and excavation at Knowlton Rings, Woodland Parish, Dorset 1993--95' by Steve Burrow & John Gale (131--2), `Excavation of the Romano-British Settlement at Shapwick' by Martin Papworth (133, 135), and `Proposed new barrackmaster's workshop, RNAS Portland' by Ann Woodward & David Tyler (137--4) (a watching brief at Portland Castle).

A series of features on Deverel Down are identified from their morphology as IA and RB enclosures.