Dorchester (Durnovaria) - Roman Town House

 

Overview

Dorchester, the county town of Dorset in south west England, was developed by the Romans in the 1st century AD as the civitas capital of the local people - the Durotriges. It seems to have prospered, with many fine mosaics suggesting a high quality of life during the later Roman period. 

Although most of the Roman town lies under modern Dorchester, several sites are worth a visit. Of the in-situ remains, the most interesting and instructive site is the Roman Town House **, which is well-presented and represents a rare survival in the wider context of Roman Britain. The ability to view mosaics in their original locations is a particular attraction. The building dates from the late Roman period (early 4th century AD) and it seems to have been occupied for over a hundred years, including a short time after Roman rule ended in 410.

Dorchester's other Roman visible remains include the earthworks of Maumbury Rings amphitheatre, a fragment of the town wall and traces of an aqueduct outside the town to the north. The Dorset Museum has an excellent Roman collection including some impressive mosaics. I will return to these in future blog posts.

Location & Access

Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, in south west England. The Roman Town House lies behind the Dorset Council headquarters building (location here). The easiest approach is by foot from the Top of Town roundabout (there is a payable car park nearby - location here) from where you head north along West Walk, following the line of the old Roman walls.  A gap on the right through a modern wall leads you to the Town House (below).

Dorchester - Roman Town House (the roof structures are modern)

If travelling by public transport, the Roman Town House is a 20 minute walk from Dorchester South railway station on the London Waterloo to Weymouth line and 15 minutes from Dorchester West station on the Bristol to Weymouth line. 

The Town House can be visited free of charge at any reasonable time, with no access restrictions at the time of writing. One wing of the building is protected by a modern structure. This is usually locked, but the rooms and mosaics can be viewed through windows, with numerous interpretation boards. Guided visits (charged) can be booked through Dorset Museum. 

Date of my visit

The photos in this blog post were taken 2024-2026.

Exploring the Roman Town House

Britain doesn't contain many visible examples of townhouses from the Roman era, so it's difficult to know how representative this one might be. As can be seen from the plan above, its irregular shape differs from more standard townhouse layouts found elsewhere in the Roman world. There is no obvious relationship to a street, for example. This could be because the building lay towards the edge of the settlement, where the road network would have been less formal than in the built-up town centre. 

Roman Town House from the east. The former town wall ran along the embankment behind.

Dorchester - Roman Town House layout

The West Range

As the layout in the above photo shows, the town house is divided into two ranges - west and south. The west range is better preserved, and has been covered by modern roof structures for protection. 

Given the unusual arrangement of the town house there is some debate about exactly what each room was used for. But in general terms we are seeing the living and reception spaces of a high status dwelling, with hypocausts and mosaics. See this view through the west range (below), for example:

West Range mosaics. Room 8 in the foreground.

Room 8, pictured above, contains the best preserved of the building's mosaics, with an attractive (if to my eyes rather 'busy') geometric pattern. It is suggested that this room was the owner's study or office.

West range - mosaic in study/office 

The study or office opens into a larger entrance hall, containing another rather less complete geometric mosaic (below) and a circular water feature - possibly a well or fountain.

West range - entrance hall mosaic 

West range - entrance hall showing circular feature 

A corridor runs from the entrance hall to two rooms at the rear of the building. This also has a mosaic floor, of a simpler geometric pattern:

West range - corridor mosaic 

One of the two rear rooms had underfloor heating (below), with a hypocaust containing channels for the hot air - a departure from the more usual method of raising the floor on small columns of tiles or stones (pilae). Grooves in the walls (visible in the photo below) would have held flue tiles to carry hot air upwards. 

West range - hypocaust.

The final room in the west range had a large and apparently high quality mosaic floor, although this has largely been lost. It is suggested that this was the dwelling's main dining room (triclinium). Heating was clearly a major concern of the inhabitants, as a blackened section shows where a brazier once stood - indicated in the photo below:

West range - fire-damaged mosaic

The South Range

The south range has less to detain the visitor, despite the presence of a rather incongruous re-erected dwarf column (below) after being found in the nearby well. An oven (not now visible) was discovered in one of the rooms (see the plan at the start of this post) which suggests that this wing contained the town house's kitchen area.

South range - re-erected column

But the south range wasn't only a service area. Its western-most room contains another hypocaust (below), although this room's function is also unclear. The hypocaust is of a similar arrangement to the one described above, with flue tile grooves in the walls and a floor supported by channels rather than pilae. Several original flagstones remain in position.

South Range - hypocaust

Next Steps

It is a short (10 minute) walk from the Roman Town House to Dorset Museum, which has a fine collection of mosaics and provides more context about Dorchester's Roman past. It also has an excellent cafe.

While leaving the Roman Town House site, have a quick look at a Roman sarcophagus (below) which is displayed next to the entrance path. This is one of six that were found in Poundbury Industrial Estate, among many more Roman burials, just to the west of the Town House - outside the former town wall circuit. 

Sarcophagus and lid from Poundbury Industrial Estate

Site References

Stanier, Peter (2004) Dorset's Archaeology. Tiverton: Dorset Books.

Dorset Council record - here

Dorset Museum and Art Gallery - Roman Town House page - here

(See also the References page of this blog).