FORMER archaeologist Julie Storer today called for action to make dreams of opening Dorchester's Roman baths become a reality.

Miss Storer, who worked on an excavation of the ruins 23 years ago, claims the town centre site could be a goldmine if developed as a tourist attraction.

Her plea comes after campaigners called for the historic baths, below Wollaston Field, to be opened up to boost the town after the collapse of its shopping centre plan.

Miss Storer, who lives with partner Steve Brissenden in Orchard Street, Dorchester, said: "It is a disgrace the site has been left for so long. It could definitely help Dorchester and bring more tourism into town.

"We could also have school parties visiting and promote links to Dorset County Museum and other aspects of the town's heritage."

She added: "I have been on my soap box for 23 years about this.

"It is a potential goldmine and now we need to look at the financing of it."

Miss Storer helped unearth part of the Roman baths in 1978 and penned drawings for the official Department of Environment report.

She has kept newspaper cuttings, her own photographs and aerial pictures of the site, near Waitrose and the Charles Street car parks.

Campaigners claim the baths could help boost Dorchester's prosperity in a new focus on the town's heritage, such as Thomas Hardy and the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

They say developing the baths and even reconstructing sections - as done in Bath - could draw many visitors to the town.

Archaeologists found the ruins of bathrooms in the 1970s excavations as well as a mosaic, a boy's skeleton, pots and coins dating from ancient Durnovaria - the Roman name for Dorchester nearly 2,000 years ago.

They also discovered Stone Age artefacts and the remains of giant henge from before the Roman invasion.

Miss Storer, who works as a self- employed decorator and antiques upholsterer, added: "I find it funny that the signs coming into Dorchester flag up Dorchester's heritage, but a great deal of it is underground."

Excavated sections of the site were covered in sands for protection after they were buried and covered with a car park, but other sections were not excavated.

The vision could cost up to £5 million to develop, but campaigners say councils could bid for lottery cash.