Venta Silurum
Venta Silurum | ||
---|---|---|
OS grid reference ST469905 | | |
Location in Monmouthshire |
Venta Silurum was a town in Roman Britain (Britannia). Today it consists of remains in the village of Caerwent in Monmouthshire, south east Wales.
Much of it has been
The nearby Newport Museum has many of the finds on display.
History
Foundation
Venta was established by the
, was (in contrast with nearby "Isca") essentially established for civilian administration rather than for military purposes.Development
Initially Venta had a forum and basilica. By the early 2nd century during the reign of Hadrian, the civitas had begun construction work on a market place and developing centre of local government. Public baths and shops, including a blacksmiths, were built about the same time. Remains of farms and dwellings, some with courtyards, have also been excavated.
A
The town lacked substantial defences until the mid 4th century when stone
Post-Roman legacy
Following the
The name Venta gave its name to the emerging
Archaeology
In 1881 a portion of a highly intricate coloured
In 2008, a dig involving Wessex Archaeology and volunteers from the local Chepstow Archaeology Society, found a row of narrow shop buildings and a villa with painted walls, frescoes of Roman art and mosaic floors. Among the artefacts excavated were a bone penknife hilt depicting two gladiators fighting, coins, Roman glassware, ceramics, human and animal bones, lead patches used for repairing water pipes and pieces of mosaic.[7] These excavations featured in Channel 4's Time Team programme, broadcast on 25 January 2009.[8] In 2010 a programme of archaeological work carried out by Monmouth Archaeology made a number of finds.
Modern houses are built on top of half the site of the old Roman market place. The ruins of several Roman buildings are still visible, including the foundations of a 4th-century temple.[9] The rudimentary quality of most of the houses, few of which had mosaic or hypocaust-heated floors, indicates that, although a large settlement, Caerwent did not attain the importance or sophistication of other Romano-British tribal capitals.[10]
References
- ^ "Caerwent Roman City; Venta Silurum (93753)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ Photograph of church
- ^ ISBN 0-7083-1826-6
- ISBN 0-14-071053-1.
- ^ Ray Howell, "From the fifth to the seventh century", in The Gwent County History Volume 1: Gwent in Prehistory and Early History, University of Wales Press, 2004, p.244
- ^ Morgan, Octavius (1882). Goldcliff and the Ancient Roman Inscribed Stone Found There 1878. Monmouthshire & Caerleon Antiquarian Association.
- ^ Wessex Archaeology, Caerwent Roman Town, Monmouthshire, South Wales Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, Report reference: 68736.01 February 2009
- ^ Time Team
- ^ Photograph of temple foundations
- ^ Caerwent at Roman-Sites.com Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine