Chieftans to Senators - Iron Age Roman Dorchester

Summary

Based in and around Dorchester, this study day will visit a range of sites dating from the 4th millennium BC to the 4th century AD.

At Maiden Castle we will see the remains of the most impressive hillfort in southern Britain; built in the Iron Age on an earlier site which included a Neolithic causeway enclosure and associated funerary monuments including a rare survival of a ‘bank barrow’. The site also has the remains of a late Roman Temple within the ramparts.

At Maumbury Ring we shall see a Neolithic ‘henge’ monument which was converted into an earthen amphitheatre by the Romans in the 1st century AD; was later incorporated into the defences of Dorchester during the English Civil War and finally used as a place of public execution.

After a walk following part of the defences of Roman Dorchester we shall visit Colliton Park. Here we can see one of the best preserved late Roman town houses, with mosaics still visible in Roman Britain.

We conclude the day at Dorchester Museum where we will have a handling session and tour of the museum.

Tour highlights:

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• A chance to handle objects from the museum in the store rooms