EXCAVATIONS AT STALLARDS PLACE, DYMOCK, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

During April and May 2007 Oxford Archaeology (OA) conducted an excavation at Stallards Place,
Dymock, Gloucestershire in advance of construction of new housing within the former gardens of
Stallards Place. The investigation produced further evidence for the Roman settlement at Dymock
to add to that known from previous excavations. A boundary ditch was identified extending back
from the main Roman road; it defined a plot containing one definite and one possible building and a
small number of pits and gullies. The ceramic evidence suggests that occupation at this site started
later than at previously excavated sites at Dymock, perhaps representing a westward expansion of
the original settlement, and continued in use after some other areas had been abandoned. The area
investigated may have been somewhat peripheral to the main focus of the settlement; it was located
at the western limit of the known distribution of Roman finds, and the results of the excavation
indicated less intensive occupation than has been recorded by excavations further east.
An area of pits and postholes of medieval date was identified representing occupation
fronting onto the main road through the village. These features mostly dated to between the 12th
and 14th centuries, and may relate to the failed attempt to establish a borough at Dymock during the
12th or 13th century.