Saturday 25th July 2026
Starts 13:30 until 15:30
Dorchester Baptist Church. Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1RR

Roman Casterbridge

A Walk around Roman Dorchester with Senior Archaeologist, Steve Wallis with readings from THS Chair, Mark Damon Chutter

Date: Saturday, 25th July 2026

Time: 1.30pm

Cost: £10

Venue: The Dorford Centre

Part of the 2026 THS Conference & Festival Programme

This walk is restricted to THS conference ticket holders only.

Places are limited and allocated on a first come basis.

"Casterbridge announced old Rome in every street, alley, and precinct. It looked Roman, bespoke the art of Rome, concealed dead men of Rome. It was impossible to dig more than a foot or two deep about the town fields and gardens without coming upon some tall soldier or other of the Empire, who had lain there in his silent unobtrusive rest for a space of fifteen hundred years."

(Mayor of Casterbridge, Chapter 11)

Steve Wallis will first give a short presentation on the Romans in Dorchester, giving context to places visited on the walk.

Hardy was fascinated by the Roman occupation of Dorchester, which they named Durnovaria, he wrote of as Casterbridge, and is now known as Dorchester.

More Roman mosaics have been found in Dorchester than any other Roman town in Britain. These have been ascribed to a possible Durnovarian School of Mosaicists due to the consistent quality and style.

Just three months before he died, Hardy attended a meeting at Dorset Museum to discuss the conservation of the outstanding mosaic pavement recovered from Fordington. He bequeathed money for the upkeep of the mosaics in the museum’s Victorian Hall with the condition they must always be walked upon.

Even after Hardy’s death, major Roman finds continued to be unearthed. In 1937, a freestanding Roman town house, considered to be the finest example in the country, was discovered close to where Hardy once lived. Forty years later, a stone bath-house was found with rooms for meetings and banqueting. The baths had several suites of hot, cold and tepid rooms, saunas and a large exercise yard. In 2000, remains of several Roman dwellings were found with mosaics, metalworkers’ workshops, agricultural buildings and stone ovens. Several large hoards of coins have also been found.

The walk and talk will provide a great start to the THS Conference, reinforcing Hardy's love of Dorchester's heritage.

Most appropriately the event falls within the CSA Festival of Archaeology 2026 running from 18th July to 2nd August. This year's theme is "Archaeology and Nature", so relevant to Hardy.