The Roman Walls
Dorchester as a town has grown and developed a great deal since the Roman times of Durnovaria, and this is most prominent when taking into consideration the original size of the town. In line with most Roman towns in Britain, Durnovaria was walled, with the walls and ditches covering an area of over 100 metres wide on each side, the sizing was estimated to be around 75 acres.
These walls were essential for the safety of the town, with three sides fully covered by walls and ditches, and on the north side protection came from the wall and river. The walls were built by order of the governor Augustus, when he took the British legions to the continent to make himself emperor, as the control of towns was paramount to Roman life. These protective walls enabled towns to maintain control with smaller army units as they enclosed areas which had already been built upon, which also contributed to the irregular shaping of the town.
A fragment of surviving walling, located just south of the Top ‘o Town roundabout, has been incorporated into a garden wall since the early 19th century. The stones on the surviving section are the inner rubble core of the wall; they would have been faced with straighter blocks on each side, which have now long since disappeared. The core of the wall shows elements of Roman style building, with horizontal stones at intervals acting as levelling measures.
This wall was given to the town by Lucia Stone in 1886.
Stone for the walls was quarried in the Ridgeway quarries, a few miles away near Upwey, and probably transported here by oxen cart. Blocks were shaped with iron tools and cemented together with lime mortar.
Whilst there is only one surviving section of Dorchester’s Roman Walls today, due to the stone being reused by later generations for new buildings and environmental wear, you can still see the line of the Roman walls by following the tree-lined Walks around Dorchester.
In the early Eighteenth Century the ruined walls were cleared and the walks were constructed to make a permanent marker of their route, with the southern, western and southern part of the east side of the walks providing clear parameters of the historic town. These Walks were laid out at the same time as the Boulevards in Paris, and give a wonderful environment for strolling and leisurely enjoyment, as well as serving as a living reminder of the original limits of the town.
Other than in Fordington, on the eastern side, Dorchester did not expand much beyond its Roman Walls until the 19th century.
Find out more...
Visit the Roman Town House.
Read Discover Dorset: The Romans by Bill Putnam.
Discover items from the Roman town of Durnovaria at the Dorset Museum.
