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Part Two: gazetteer of sites

The East

CANTERBURY(Durovernum Cantiacorum) Definite

Description:
Civitas capital; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
1 coin of Honorius (393-423)
200 coins, "House of Theodosius" issue (388-402)
Christian silver hoard (c.407-11)
1 Gallic tremissis, of either Severus III or Zeno (c.480)
"Anglo-Frisian" pottery (fifth century)
Sources:

Remains of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, with the remains of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (left, under the roof) and the Church of St. Pancras (right rear).
Fig.1 Remains of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, with the remains of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (left, under the roof) and the Church of St. Pancras (right rear).

Archaeological fieldwork is revealing many important clues about late Roman Canterbury. While decay and demolition were certainly in evidence in many of Canterbury's public buildings, what is interesting is the re-use of these areas for continued economic activity in the tumultuous fifth century.

The fourth century saw the demolition of the public baths and the portico of the local temple. But the temple courtyard was still being used in the fifth century, perhaps as a market, and new timber structures were built over the baths complex. FN3 Although the southern carriageway at Riding Gate was stopped up at this time, its space was maintained for use as a metalworker's workshop.FN4 Other fifth-century structures were built over Roman roads, indicating that urban standards may have been declining in Canterbury, but its sub-Roman occupants were choosing adaptation over desertion.

There is other evidence that at least some of these fifth-century occupants were quite wealthy and Christian. An impressive silver hoard was found outside of the London Gate, and is dated from coin evidence to c.407-11 or later.FN5 The hoard included silver ingots (late fourth/early fifth century), a gold ring (late fourth), and numerous silver spoons (late fourth) decorated with the Chi-Rho monogram. The spoons in particular offer indisputable evidence of a wealthy Christian community in sub-Roman Canterbury that may have provided the precedent for the Augustinian mission of 597.FN6 Bede claims that when St Augustine arrived in Kent in 597 he was given permission by King Ethelbert to restore Roman churches in the Canterbury vicinity.FN6a It is worth noting that St Peter's Church respects the Roman rather than the medieval street pattern of Canterbury, while excavations at St Martin's (a half-mile east of the city, where Queen Bertha and her chaplain had been worshipping) revealed a small rectangular building built of Roman materials and with a floor of opus signinum incorporated into the channel of the present church.FN6b Nicholas Brooks believes that this Roman structure may have been a mausoleum or martyrium.FN6c Other evidence of a British Christian community lingering until the seventh century includes the place-name Eccles in the parish of Aylesford, where a timber building and Christian cemetery (with some seventh-century burials) have been found in the ruins of a Roman villa.FN6d

Other evidence allows us to extend the sub-Roman occupation at least to the end of the fifth century. In the temple precinct archaeologists uncovered a multiple burial, seemingly a family and their pet dog, with associated jewelry dating stylistically to the mid fifth century.FN7 Esmonde Cleary points out that this inhumation is in clear violation of the Roman law preventing burial of the dead within town walls.FN8 In the Marlowe area, in south-eastern Canterbury, excavation revealed timber structures inserted into the shell of an earlier stone building; deposits indicated up to four phases of fifth-century occupation on the site.FN9 Nearby, in soil covering a late Roman courtyard, excavators found a Visigothic coin and a firesteel, a metal "match" used to strike flint FN10 The coin, a gold tremissis of either Severus III or Zeno, is most likely a Visigothic copy originating in southern Gaul c.480.FN11 Its fragmented condition indicates that it was probably part of a goldsmith's collection, as was the firesteel, which is similar to one found at Portchester and dates by affinity to the mid to late fifth century.

Nearly 30 Grubenhäuser have been excavated in Canterbury, seven of which have been assigned to the fifth century due to their association with "Anglo-Frisian" pottery.FN11a But the four pagan Saxon graves thus far identified in Canterbury all come from the Roman cemeteries of the city, lending credence to Frere's theory that the huts and graves were those of fifth-century Saxon federates. "The absence of any substantial pagan Saxon cemetery in the vicinity of Canterbury," writes Brooks, "suggests that English settlement in the town was always very slight." FN11b

CHELMSFORD (Caesaromagus) Probable

Description:
Walled town; temple
Dating Evidence:
Coins of Arcadius
"Jutish" pottery
Sources:

Caesaromagus, "Caesar's Plain," suffered badly from the Boudiccan revolt and could never compete economically with the markets at nearby London and Colchester. The Romans lost interest in developing the small town after the second century, and native Trinovantian influence remained strong in the area.

But in the fourth century, Chelmsford may have taken on a significant religious role. A Romano-Celtic temple was built just outside the city walls c.320 in which, states Drury, "we can see the complete change from the Celtic tradition of worshipping in the open air, to the classical concept of anthropomorphic gods who need houses."FN12 The building consists of two concentric octagons, the inner one opening to a semicircular apse on its western wall. "The site," writes Drury, "produced 90 coins more or less equally spread between 310 and 402 ending with issues of Arcadius."FN13 Sometime after 402, ritual discontinued at the temple and a small three-room house was erected against its eastern wall. A subsequent fifth-century phase saw the careful demolition of the temple and the removal of its stones, perhaps, as Drury suggests, to build Chelmsford's first Christian church.FN14 The small house remained standing, however, and there is evidence that domestic activity continued at the temple site for some time, probably until the late fifth century.FN15
Less is known about Chelmsford's timber structures, traces of which have been found both inside and outside the city walls. One large timber building, destroyed by fire, has been dated to the fifth century because it contained continental pottery identified stylistically as "Jutish." Locally made sub-Roman pottery has also been recorded both at Chelmsford and nearby Great Dunmow. "Presumably," writes Dunnet, "the bulk of the population continued living in their established homes." FN16

CHICHESTER (Noviomagus Regnorum) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
One bronze coin of Arcadius (c.383-402)
One gold solidus of Valentinian III (425-455)
Sources:

Chichester shows signs of continued settlement in the fifth century. Its public baths were still functioning in the 370s, and two houses in Chapel Street show signs of occupation into the next centuryFN17 Fifth-century numismatic evidence includes a bronze coin of Arcadius.FN18 and a Visigothic copy of a gold solidus of Valentinian III.FN19 There is also numismatic and ceramic evidence of occupation in the late fourth and early fifth century at some of the neighboring villas and settlements, including Bignor, Rookery Hill, Thundersbarrow, and Bow Hill.FN20 Down has speculated that the strongholds of the sub-Roman tyranni may have included "the old civitas capitals" like Chichester "with their strong walls, the forts of the Saxon shore and, in some instances, the large estates where the owners were sufficiently wealthy to maintain armed forces."FN21

COLCHESTER (Camulodunum) Possible

Description:
Colonia; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
12 coins dating 388-402 (uncatalogued)
Bronze buckle (late fourth century)
Two cruciform brooches
Sources:

The Balkerne Gate, Colchester.
Fig.2 The Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

Colchester, Roman Britain's first capital and colonia, was on its way to becoming the model provincial city before its destruction by Boudicca in AD61. Though rebuilt, Colchester was once again vulnerable to the attacks of seaborne raiders in the fourth and fifth centuries. Excavations at Duncan's Gate and Balkerne Lane have revealed evidence of fire-destruction and external attacks in the fourth century.FN22

Coin finds and graves testify to continuous occupation into the early years of the fifth century.FN23 Other fifth-century evidence includes one sunken-floored hut, two cruciform brooches, and parts of military belt-buckles.FN24 The military buckles could have belonged to any late Roman soldier, but the fact that the hut and graves were found within Colchester's walls suggests that these occupants were present at a time when the Roman restriction against intra-mural burials no longer existed.FN25 The area around the Balkerne Gate, which remains to this day largely intact, may yet yield clues about sub-Roman defense and transportation.

Recent excavations at one Roman cemetery near the present-day Police Station revealed startling evidence of a substantial Christian community in late Roman Colchester.FN26 A small pagan cemetery was apparently succeeded by a larger Christian cemetery in the early fourth century. Most of the bodies were in nailed wooden coffins, though some were in lead coffins, hollowed tree trunks, timber vaults, or no coffins at all. To one side of this cemetery excavators found the circuit of a long rectangular stone building, with timber inner partitions, oriented east-west. It seems to have been constructed between 320-40, with later alterations including a rounded apse added at the eastern end. The structural design strongly suggests that this building was a Christian church, though no Christian artifacts have yet been found. The interior did yield, however, hundreds of fourth-century coins, five complete oil lamps, an iron frying pan, and bird and pig bones. The excavator suggests that the latter may have been part of a funerary or other ritual meal. FN27

LONDON (Londinium Augusta) Definite

Description:
Provincial/diocesan capital; seaport
Dating Evidence:
2 "chip-carved" bronze buckles
200+ Theodosian bronze coins (c.388-402)
Gold and silver issues of Arcadius and Honorius
One silver ingot (c.405)
Imported pottery (Biv, Bv, and Bvi)
Sources:

Medieval bastion and late Roman wall, London.
Fig.3 Medieval bastion and late Roman wall, London.

Settlement continued in London into the fifth and sixth centuries, but its character changed dramatically from its once-lofty status as an administrative center of the province. The great basilica was carefully demolished at the start of the fourth century; its apse was left standing and became part of some new structure standing alone on the now-vacant forum.FN28

The London waterfront, on the other hand, showed signs of revival in the late fourth century.FN29 Urban occupation continued there until the sixth century, and there is some evidence - a brooch and amphoras - of continued trade with the Continent.FN30 A section of the riverside wall was rebuilt at this time, while towers were added (c.350) to the landward wall.FN31 These defensive measures fit in with late fourth-century imperial policy and are paralleled at other walled cities in Britain.

The Notitia Dignitatum states that London housed the imperial treasury (and its overseer, the praepositus Thesaurorum Augustensium) in the last decade of the fourth century. A silver ingot, of the type presented to the army on an imperial accession or anniversary, was found within the Tower of London in a hoard that also contained a silver coin of Arcadius and two gold coins, one of Honorius and one of Arcadius.FN32 Scattered around the Tower as well were several coins running down to 388-402, leading Perring to postulate that a late Roman salient was built on the Tower site in the last decades of the fourth century, perhaps associated with the campaigns of Stilicho.FN33

The site which gives the clearest evidence of fifth-century occupation is a masonry building uncovered in Lower Thames Street near Billingsgate.FN34. This large house had under-floor heating and a private bath-suite, all of which continued to be used well into the fifth century. A hoard of over two hundred copper coins issued between 388 and 402 were found scattered on the furnace room floorFN35 and under the furnace ashes was found a piece of fifth-century amphora imported from the eastern Mediterranean, probably Gaza. The terminus of this occupation is marked by broken glass and roof debris, on which was found a circular brooch identical to one found in an early (pagan) Saxon grave at Mitcham, Surrey.

There is little evidence of "Germanic" pottery or Grubenhäuser in the city itselfFN36 though a "Saxon" cemetery has been identified in the London suburb of Orpington.FN37 Anglo-Saxon London (Lundenwic) grew up to the west of the city and did not become a significant burg until quite late. In fact, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes London as a place to which the Britons fled after defeat in Kent in the 450s.FN38 Perring sees London as the center of a minor sub-Roman kingdom surrounded by banked ditches, constructed to mark the boundaries between it and the sub-Roman communities of Verulamium and Canterbury.FN39 The Roman fort at Cripplegate may have passed from the control of these sub-Roman Britons to become an Anglo-Saxon royal palace.FN40 But the archaeological evidence is not yet able to clear up all of the questions posed by London. Ironically, Roman Britain's largest city appears not to have been a significant settlement in the immediate post-Roman years, though finds definitely show sporadic activity in the fifth century.

PORTCHESTER (Portus Adurni) Possible

Description:
Saxon Shore fort
Sources:

The medieval castle and church within the walls of the Portchester Saxon Shore fort.
Fig.4 The medieval castle and church within the walls of the Portchester Saxon Shore fort.

A civilian population grew alongside the military presence in the Saxon Shore fort of Portchester. Occupation within the walls was intensive in the fourth century and continued at least into the early fifth century.FN41 It is not yet clear whether this fifth-century occupation was the continuation of the military community or a new settlement.FN42 Cunliffe's excavations in the 1960s and 70s revealed what he considered a strong "Germanic" presence at Portchester. Continental pottery, Frankish jewelry, and Grubenhäuser were found alongside the Roman finds inside the walls of the fort.FN43 Cunliffe interpreted these as clear signs of a settled Germanic detachment (laeti?) who maintained some contacts with the Continent and shared space inside the fort with the sub-Roman Britons.FN44

RICHBOROUGH (Rutupiae) Probable

Description:
Saxon Shore fort; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
13000 bronze coins ("uncertain Theodosian")
4200 bronze coins of Arcadius
1000 bronze coins of Honorius
1 gold tremissis of Leo I (Italian mint, c.461-74)
Sources:

View of the interior and walls (facing north) of Richborough fort.
Fig.5 View of the interior and walls (facing north) of Richborough fort.

Rutupiae, "muddy waters," was once one of Roman Britain's main south coast ports, welcoming such visitors as Claudius and Count Theodosius. Though it once guarded the southern approach to the Wantsum Channel, which separated the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent, changing water levels have now left it some 4km from the sea. Excavations in the early part of this century uncovered an exceptionally numerous quantity of Roman coins of the House of Theodosius, which account for 45% of all coinage found within the fort.FN45 The coins, along with other late Roman military metalwork recovered, indicate that Richborough was one of the last places in Roman Britain to have been held in full military strength.FN46

By the early fifth century a Christian community was established within the (abandoned?) fort of Richborough. The foundations of a hexagonal masonry structure identified as a baptismal font were uncovered inside the fort, in the north-west corner, along with artifacts bearing the Chi-Rho monogram.FN47

Johnson sees the Richborough evidence as fitting in with the pattern repeated in other parts of the late Empire, "where bishops were glad to establish their congregations within the safety of the now abandoned fort walls."FN48

ST ALBANS (Verlamion, Verulamium) Definite

Description:
Municipia; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
14 (?) bronze coins of Arcadius
3 (?) bronze coins of Eugenius (392-4)
1 silver coin of Honorius, from Milan (397-404)
2 bronze coins of Honorius
36 (?) "House of Theodosius" issue coins
252 sherds of Romano-British pottery (late fifth century)
Imported pottery (1 sherd from a Mediterranean amphora)
Silver hand-pin (sixth or seventh century)
Sources:

Verulamium is one of the strongest cases for the survival of a major Roman town into the fifth and sixth centuries. Frere's excavations in the 1970s and 80s of Verulamium Insula XXVII reveal a diversity of both public and private activity during the sub-Roman period. One townhouse alone in Insula XXVII reveals the complexity of this activity.FN49 Built c.380 on a vacant site, the house included 22 ground-floor rooms and a colonnade surrounding a garden or courtyard. After a period of use, two extensions were added to the house, complete with a series of high-quality mosaic floors whose replacement was necessitated by constant wear. The kitchen floor alone was re-paved four times between about 400 and 430 when a hole was cut through it for the placement of a corn-drying oven or small hypocaust. The oven was used so much that it too needed repairs before the house was demolished c.460. At this stage a large rectangular structure, interpreted as a stone barn or hall, was constructed on the site. After another undetermined period of use, one of the stone buttresses of this building was damaged by the laying of a wooden water pipe, constructed--in the Roman style--with hollowed-out trunks joined by iron collars. Dating is based on associated coins and pottery (of the first decade of the fifth century) and on the continuing stratigraphic sequence which, the excavator estimates, ran down to 475+.

Branigan notes that the construction of the sub-Roman water main indicates that 1) Roman hydraulic engineering skills were still alive in Britain; 2) the Roman aqueduct which served Verulamium was still functioning; and 3) municipal authorities were still working for the maintenance of the city c.450-70.FN50 The quality mosaic pavements, found in several houses, would seem to indicate that the skills of the mosaicist were also still alive in fifth-century Britain.

There are further reasons to be as optimistic about the agrarian economy of Verulamium and its environs. The forum, with its well-worn floor, survived into the fifth century. Branigan takes this as an indicator of the continued occupation of the surrounding villa estates, which needed such markets for their goods.FN51 Two cottages in Gadebridge Park were occupied at least into the early fifth century, when animal pens were built as additions.FN52 There is also slight evidence that Verulamium benefited from Mediterranean trade in the sub-Roman period. The floor of a timber building in Insula XIX was terraced into a previously open cobbled area at some time after 388, and lying on its surface was a quantity of late Roman material, including a pin, brooches, and sherd of an amphora imported from the eastern Mediterranean.FN53 "The current picture of late Roman Verulamium is one of widespread occupation," comments Rosalind Niblett, "increasingly in timber buildings, amidst areas of open cultivated land; . . . but the standard of living was not necessarily low, witness the new water pipe and the imported amphora."FN54

This survival of a Verulamium community in the fifth century has also been inferred from Constantius's Life of St Germanus, which describes Germanus's visit to the shrine of St Alban in 429. Many scholars have argued for the survival of a "British" population into the sixth century in what has been described as a Saxon-free "Chiltern Zone."FN55 According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the area remained in the hands of the Britons until their defeat at the Battle of Bedcanford in 571.FN56 When King Offa of Mercia founded St Albans Abbey in 793 it is likely that he chose a site with previous Christian activity. Excavations at the Abbey, which lies just outside of Verulamium, have revealed evidence of near-continuous activity from the late Roman period to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. The earliest level, below the Norman cellarium and Anglo-Saxon church, contained several pits, iron nails, charcoal and cremated bones, a silver hand-pin, Roman tile and glass, 32 Roman coins (all but one or two of fourth-century date), and 252 sherds of Romano-British pottery.FN57

Although there is no conclusive evidence for an early Christian cemetery which might have contained the martyred Alban's remains, the finds suggest "intensive use of the site during the growth of [Alban's] cult in the fourth and fifth centuries."FN58 The silver pin is of "Celtic" type and dates by affinity to the sixth or seventh century, while the pottery -"grass- or chaff-tempered" - is of late fifth- or sixth-century date.FN59 Seventh-century "Saxon" material, together with a reference to St Alban's shrine in Bede, would suggest that there was some continuity of occupation, perhaps a mixture of pagan and ChristianFN60 from the fifth century to the foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Abbey by Offa.

The Southwest

BANTHAM Probable

Description:
Temporary dune settlement
Dating Evidence:
Roman fine wares
Imported pottery (Bi, Bii, and E ware)
One enamelled disc brooch (Roman)
Two penannular brooches (sub-Roman)
Six iron knife blades
Sources:

Bantham Ham at the mouth of the River Avon has, since the eighteenth century, been known to locals as a repository of ancient garbage. Several middens were uncovered by farmers in the nineteenth century, and many of the objects found were collected in 1902 by H.L. Jenkins.FN61 In 1953 Aileen Fox identified some of the ceramic finds as sherds of imported pottery dating to the fifth to seventh centuries.FN62 A sub-Roman date was then ascribed to this Devon dunes settlement.

Small-scale excavations at the dunes in April 1978 revealed more midden material overlying hearths and adjacent hollows, defined by the excavator as Areas A, B, C, and D.FN63 Area A contained a hearth, stake-holes (thought to represent tent-supports), a shallow gully, charcoal pipes, shells, slate slabs, animal bones, a knife blade and other iron fragments, part of an enamelled brooch, and several sherds of pottery (two of which had been pierced to make whorls). Area B was similarly rich, producing several pits, limpet shells, slate slabs, bone frag ments, two hearths, charcoal, 70 stake-holes, whetstones, several iron objects, and a single sherd of imported pottery (E ware). Area C yielded only bone and shell fragments, charcoal, and mussel shells, while Area D contained charcoal deposits, several slate slabs, a group of five stake-holes, mussel and limpet shells, and a decorated bone comb.

Analysis of the pottery (21 sherds were found in the most recent excavation) by the excavator identified Roman fine wares and more examples of the imported pottery identified by Fox, the latter representing Mediterranean amphoras (Bi and Bii) and Gaulish kitchenware (E ware).FN64 Sixty-one iron objects and fragments were uncovered, including a nail, chisel, clamps, and six knife blades (probably once adorned with wooden shafts). Finely crafted objects found at the site included fragments of a decorated bone comb, two penannular brooches (one bronze and one iron), and a leaded bronze enamelled disc brooch. The penannular brooches have been identified as sub- or post-Roman, while the disc brooch is likely of Roman provincial manufacture (second or third century).FN65 Finally, a great quantity of marine shells and animal bones were uncovered, the latter representing (in decreasing order) cattle, sheep, goat, pig, dog, horse, deer, hare, vole, birds, and fish.

The large number of artifacts and slight evidence of structures has led observers to conclude that Bantham was a temporarily, perhaps seasonally, occupied settlement.FN66 A sub-Roman trading post, with occasional but intense use, seems likely because of the location and the Mediterranean imports. The iron fragments, along with a single find of iron slag and eleven whorls, suggest that manufacturing may have occurred alongside, or in relationship to, the long-distance trade.

BATH (Aquae Sulis) Probable

Description:
Pagan shrine; small town; spa complex
Dating Evidence:
One hoard of siliquae, with coins dating from c.347-88
42 coins, "House of Theodosius" issue (388-402)
Late fourth-century pottery
Imported pottery (Biv)
Organically-tempered pottery (c.450-900)
Penannular brooch
Sources:

After a defensive wall was built around the religious precinct of Bath in the early fourth century, more and more people began abandoning their extra-mural settlements and moving inside the walled "city." At least 11 major buildings, some quite large and several with underfloor heating and mosaics, make Bath the most thriving of the small towns in late Roman Britain.FN67 A recently found hoard of silver coins shows that the wealth spread to the surrounding communities as well.FN68

The flourishing baths complex underwent dramatic changes at the end of the fourth century. The increasing problem of flooding shut down the underfloor heating for long periods, though the numbers of people visiting the springs did not decrease. The precinct of the Temple of Sulis Minerva saw the most drastic changes, perhaps as the result of the rising influence of Christianity in the area.FN69 The Temple altar was dismantled and sculpted blocks were torn from the "Gorgon" pediment, then overturned and used to pave the floors. The colonnade in the outer precinct was demolished and new secular buildings were constructed in its place.

The most complex and significant sequence occurred in the temple's inner paved precinct.FN70 The paved floor had been swept regularly until the middle of the fourth century, when an accumulation of earth began to cover it (and a coin of Constans, c.347-48). A new cobbled floor was then laid on top of the dirt, and again dirt began to accumulate over the worn stones. This pattern was repeated six times until the final collapse of the buildings sealed the sequence with a blanket of masonry rubble. The third level of cobbling sealed a "House of Theodosius" coin (388-402) and related pottery (Oxford color-coated ware and shell-tempered ware), but that leaves three layers of pavement, each of them worn by the passage of feet, extending to a time beyond the last coin issues and datable pottery.

The excavators believe that the chronology of this sequence extends occupation of the temple precinct at least to 470 and very likely into the sixth century and beyond.FN71 While the pottery experts would like to compress the entire chronology into the late fourth century (squeezing the last three layers into the 390s), most archaeologists agree with Cunliffe (and the coin evidence from here and the sacred spring) that settlement must extend well into the fifth century.FN72

Evidence: elsewhere supports the theory that Bath remained populated through the sub-Roman period. Throughout the baths complex the floor slabs, especially beneath the doorways, showed considerable wear in the last (fifth-century) phase, indicating that "even though the buildings were now being demolished, the spring continued to be frequented on an impressive scale."FN73 While there was much stone-robbing in the post-Roman years, not all the buildings were demolished. The reservoir enclosure survived into the early medieval period and became known as the King's Bath.FN74 "Elsewhere within the walled area" of Bath, writes Cunliffe, "there are hints of domestic buildings being used well into the fifth and possibly the sixth centuries."FN75 Such "hints" include the Abbeygate Street site, where a Roman building that had collapsed in the late fourth century was replaced, after an interval, by a new structure erected on a different alignment, the associated stratigraphy arguing for survival well beyond 410. Excavation has thus lent some credence to the assertion of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that, at the time of the Battle of Dyrham (c.577), Bath was a major civitas and (perhaps) the residence of a British king.FN76

BREAN DOWN Probable

Description:
Cemetery; religious shrine/church
Dating Evidence:
Three coins of Constantine II (c.330-7)
Theodosian coinage (down to 395)
Radiocarbon estimates of three skeletons (calibrated: 415-600; 560-660; 654-786)
Sources:

Excavation has revealed what has been identified as a sub-Roman cemetery at Brean Down. Three skeletons yielded calibrated radiocarbon dates of 415-600, 560-660, and 654-786. The skeletons were aligned east-west but were not buried with grave-goods. Nearby stones suggest a return to the pre-Roman trait of slab-lined and cist burials.FN77 The east-west alignment and lack of grave-goods have been interpreted as Christian burials. A Romano-Celtic temple was built on the Down c340 and demolished c.390.FN78 This was replaced by a small, rectangular, stone-built structure. One interpretation is that the pagan temple was demolished by the Christian community, who replaced it with a small shrine.FN79 But the rectangular structure could have been a subsequent pagan shrine, abandoned sometime after the coming of the Christians.FN80

CADBURY-CONGRESBURY Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Bronze penannular brooch
Romano-British pottery (538 sherds, representing a minimum of 170 vessels)
Imported pottery (PRSW, ARSW, B amphoras, and D ware)
Anglo-Saxon glass and ceramics
Sources:

Cadbury-Congresbury (Cadcong) is an Iron Age hillfort that was reoccupied in the late or post-Roman period. Around AD 400 new earthworks were constructed, including a bank dividing the hillfort into two parts and a linking entrance way.FN81 These earthworks included both late Romano-British pottery and fifth- and sixth-century pottery imported from the Mediterranean, putting the reoccupation of Cadcong within the timeframe 400-700. FN82

According to its excavators, Cadcong's defensive rampart "is not a major military work, with extensive use of timber-framing or revetment (as at South Cadbury); but rather a flat platform on which turf or a light superstructure was piled."FN83 However, traces of other defensive structures found at Cadcong, including bastions and watchtowers, argue for a more intensive fortified use. Burrow estimates the manpower needed to defend Cadcong and its inhabitants as between 400 and 650 men.FN84

But Cadcong's defenses are only part of the story. Several domestic buildings were discerned from excavation, as well as a gatehouse and a roundhouse identified by the excavators as a possible shrine or temple.FN85 Evidence of metalworking is abundant at Cadcong, which is also one of the sites which has yielded the largest amount of imported Mediterranean amphoras.FN86 By the sixth century, the residents of Cadcong had attained, in the opinion of the excavators, "high status, patronising craft-workers and having access to glass and ceramics from the Anglo-Saxon areas to the East, and from the Eastern Mediterannean."FN87

Still, there is much debate over the exact function of this hilltop settlement. Some of the possibilities are:

There is no conclusive evidence for any of these possiblities. Until we have a better understanding of the reoccupation of hillforts in general, Cadcong is best left as a "high-status" site.FN91

There may be other contextual clues, however, if we look at sub-Roman Somerset. Fowler believes that the inhabitants of Cadcong came from nearby Gatcombe, a walled villa and late Roman community.FN92 This would parallel what Alcock has suggested for South Cadbury hillfort, that its sub-Roman inhabitants had migrated from nearby Ilchester (Lindinis).FN93 Cadcong lies at the junction of three tribal kingdoms: the Dobunni, the Durotriges, and the Dumnonii. Given the intensive sub-Roman occupation of hillforts and other settlements in this area, these Britons may have been responsible for the construction of Wansdyke as a defensive border between their civitates and the encroaching Saxons.FN94 The inhabitants of Cadcong seem to have enjoyed undisturbed peace until the late sixth or early seventh century, when the settlement declined and was abandoned.FN95

CANNINGTON Probable

Description:
Hillfort; religious shrine; cemetery
Dating Evidence:
Carbon 14 determinations
Bronze penannular brooch
Imported pottery (Bii and Bmisc)
Sources:

Cannington, in Somerset, is the site of one of the largest Roman cemeteries excavated in Britain. The cemetery originally consisted of some 2000-5000 graves (only 500 of which survived to be excavated) and was in use from the second century to the seventh or eighth. The earlier graves were aligned roughly north-south and contained grave-goods, while the latter were aligned east-west and lacked grave-goods, suggesting an initially pagan and subsequently Christianized community.

Two explanations have been offered for the size and location of the cemetery. One scenario is that the local Romano-British population migrated to the nearby hillfort and used Cannington as their burial-ground.FN96 This is likely to have happened in the sub-Roman period, but does not explain the second-century graves, for the hillfort reoccupation is unlikely to have been that early. (Though a late Roman temple, found on the hilltop, could account for some of the early pagan graves.FN97) Another explanation is that Cannington served as a communal burial ground for several communities in Somerset, as was probably the case for Poundbury near Dorchester.FN98

CASTLE DORE Possible

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (1 vessel, unidentified)
Glass beads
Sources:

Ditch and ramparts of Castle Dore, Cornwall.
Fig.6 Ditch and ramparts of Castle Dore, Cornwall.

Castle Dore is an artificial earthwork created in the pre-Roman Iron Age. It consists of a circular plateau surrounded by two concentric banks, about eight feet high, and two deep ditches. Radford's excavations in the 1930s identified Castle Dore as a hillfort reoccupied and refortified at the end of the Roman period, in use through the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries.

Few traces of the fortifications were discovered. A dry stone revetment was added to the old earthen banks to make a fighting platform, and a small oval hut just inside the gateway was likely used as a guardhouse.FN99 From the gateway a rough cobbled road, about six feet wide, led to the interior plateau and past several wooden structures. From posthole patterns, Radford identified these structures as two large halls (90ft x 40ft and 65ft x 35ft) and two granaries (7ft x 5ft). Though some archaeologists have questioned Radford's interpretation of these features,FN100 Rahtz maintains that "the post-Roman complex at Castle Dore remains . . . the most impressive 'palace' in the west."FN101
Dating evidence is scarce at Castle Dore. Those structures labelled sub-Roman clearly overlay Iron Age features, but only a few beads and pottery sherds were found in the sub-Roman layer. The sherds are from one vessel of imported pottery, of unidentifiable type but similar to a grey vessel (sixth century) found at Gwithian.FN102 D.F. Williams, however, believes the sherds to be from amphoras of the pre-Conquest period.FN103 Castle Dore's proximity to the "Tristan stone" (DRUSTANUS HIC IACIT/CUNOMORI FILIUS) has led to the belief that this fort was the residence of Cunomorus (King Mark), a sixth-century prince named in a Dumnonian genealogy.

CHUN CASTLE Probable

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Grass-marked pottery
Imported amphora (Bi)
Metalworking debris
Source:

Chun Castle is a bivallate walled enclosure occupied in both the Roman and sub-Roman periods. Excavations revealed dry stone structures, a hearth associated with grass-marked pottery, fragments from one vessel of Aegean origin (mid sixth century), a crude furnace, and a block of smelted tin.FN104

DORCHESTER (Durnovaria)/POUNDBURY Definite

Description:
Civitas capital and cemetery
Dating Evidence:
Theodosian bronze coins (c.388-402)
One silver hoard, ending with issues of Honorius
Six radiocarbon estimates (fourth to seventh centuries)
Organically-tempered pottery (late fifth or sixth century)
Imported pottery (Biv and Bv)
Sources:

Late Roman Dorchester produced one of Britain's most distinctive schools for mosaicists and was the home of a flourishing Christian community. Over a thousand graves have been examined at nearby Poundbury, one of three major Christian cemeteries identified in Roman Britain.FN105 The majority of the graves were aligned east-west and were in simple wooden coffins without grave goods, though others were in more elaborate stone or lead coffins and included few grave goods. Within some of the coffins at the "main cemetery," bodies were partially preserved by a packing of gypsum plaster.FN106 A coin pendant with the Chi-Rho, along with the east-west alignments (which carefully avoid earlier north-south inhumations), strongly suggest that many of these were Christian graves.

The Dorchester area has yielded other evidence of early Christians. The villas at Frampton and Hinton St Mary both contained mosaics bearing such Christian symbols as the Chi-Rho, and presumably these mosaics were part of private chapels. These and stone mausolea found in the Christian section at Poundbury suggest that Christianity was spreading among the upper classes in the fourth century. By c.420 however, the cemetery went out of use, and a substantial agricultural community grew up on the site (the enclosed area equals that of South Cadbury). Features of this post-Roman settlement include fifteen buildings (post-built, beam-slot, combined post-and -beam, and sunken-featured structures), seven groups of pits, six grain driers and a threshing floor, four small ditched enclosures, and a substantial ditched enclosure.FN107 Additionally, six mausolea belonging to the late Roman cemetery were either robbed or re-used in the post-Roman period, one yielding a Theodosian bronze coin sealed in its wall plaster.FN108 This settlement seems to have had two phases, spanning (on radiocarbon estimates) from the late fourth to early seventh centuries. Sherds of imported amphoras, quality iron knives, and bone pins tell us something of Poundbury's economic and industrial activities, while the large number of grain driers might suggest on-site mass processing of grain.FN109 The end of sub-Roman Poundbury was sudden, marked by the destruction of drystone and timber structures and the possible slaughter of animals, with radiocrabon estimates suggesting a date in the middle of the seventh century. FN110This would be contemporary with the cemetery evidence for the first Saxons arriving in the area.

EXETER (Isca Dumnoniorum) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
Several worn coins of Valens and Gratian (c.367-75)
One (chipped) coin of Magnus Maximus (c.387-88)
One coin of Theodosius, rev. VICTORIA AUGGG (c.388-92)
Several Byzantine copper coins of questionable provenance
Radiocarbon dating of two graves (420±70 and 490±80)
Sherds of late Roman amphoras (possibly Bv)
Sources:

The forum basilica at Exeter underwent extensive remodelling in the latter part of the fourth century, and the new floor laid in the basilica contained a coin of Valens (c.367-75).FN111 Though grass and weeds were apparently growing in the palaestra of the bathsFN112 at least one Roman townhouse was built after the middle of the fourth century, with the insertion of a water trough overlaying a coin of c.363-67. Adjacent to this large house was a dump of oyster shells and a well-worn coin of Maximus (c.387-88), indicating probable activity at the site at the beginning of the fifth century.FN113

In the middle of the fifth century, the southern end of the forum and basilica was carefully demolished, and the stones were removed from the site in an orderly manner calling for some organization of manpower.FN114 First a large quarry-pit, together with several smaller pits, were dug into the curia floor to extract clay for bronze-working.FN115 Then the site was used as a cemetery, as excavators uncovered six inhumation graves which followed the alignment of the Roman buildings. Two of the graves yielded radiocarbon dates placing them in the fifth or sixth centuries, while the rest appeared to belong to the later Saxon minster church.FN116

Bidwell believes that these graves are part of a larger (yet to be fully excavated) Christian cemetery, indicating a fifth-century Christian community at Exeter which he describes as a "proto-monastery."FN117 If these Christian graves were succeeded directly by the Saxon church and graveyard, it may signal continuity of occupation at Exeter.FN118

There is an intriguing reference to Exeter in the Life of St John the Almsgiver, written in the early seventh century. A captain sailing from Alexandria with a cargo of corn is blown off course and lands in Britain, where he trades his cargo for Cornish tin (and some bronze numisma) and relieves a local famine. This reference has been taken to mean Exeter (or its port at Topsham), the first major Roman port reached by ships rounding the Iberian peninsula.FN119 But it could also refer to some other Dumnonian port which had succeeded Exeter in the sub-Roman period. Castle Dore, near Fowey, may have become a new focal point for the post-Roman inhabitants of Dumnonia. The wide spread occurrence of Christian memorial stones with their Ogham script in West Devon and Cornwall suggests Welsh or Irish missionary activity in this area,FN120 which was quickly solidifying into a westward-looking "Celtic" kingdom.

GLASTONBURY Definite

Description:
Hilltop settlement; Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (Bi and Bii)
Byzantine censer (seventh century)
Sources:

Glastonbury Tor, Somerset.
Fig.7 Glastonbury Tor, Somerset.

Glastonbury has long been the focal point of Arthurian and early Christian tradition in Somerset. The two features that have received the most attention are Glastonbury Abbey, one of Britain's most magnificent pre-Reformation religious houses, and Glastonbury Tor, an enigmatic terraced hill which rises over 500 feet above the Somerset plains. The Tor has yielded the strongest evidence for sub-Roman occupation, but neither area has been fully excavated and little archaeological work has been done since the 1960s.

Ralegh Radford's excavations at Glastonbury Abbey were aimed at discovering the earliest religious activity on the site. An ancient cemetery of slab-lined graves was found near the remains of a timber structure thought to be the original church of St Mary. Along with this small wattled building were found post-holes interpreted as the remains of wattled oratories, and the entire area was bounded on the east by a great bank and ditch thought to be a monastic vallum. Though no dating evidence was found at the Abbey, these features lay beneath later Saxon structures, leading Radford to interpret the site as a "Celtic" monastery based on Irish parallels.FN121 More recent excavation on the precinct ditch uncovered wooden stakes which yielded radiocarbon determinations centering on the late sixth and seventh centuries.FN122 Also found in this area was an eastern Mediterranean copper censer, of late sixth- or seventh-century date, which suggests that Glastonbury maintained Byzantine ecclesiastical contacts.FN123

Philip Rahtz's excavations on Glastonbury Tor have yielded much more evidence of sub-Roman occupation. Structures were found both on the summit of the Tor and on the terrace platforms, which were reached in medieval times by a series of steps cut into the bedrock approaching from the west.FN124 Slight remains of wooden buildings were found associated with hundreds of animal bones (representing prepared joints of ham, beef, and mutton seemingly butchered elsewhere and brought to the site), charcoal, and burnt stones. A fenced-in eastern hollow yielded Roman tileFN125 a bone needle, an iron lamp-holder, and a mysterious stone cairn. The most important area was the south platform, where traces of a large timber building were found along with two hearths, crucibles and other evidence of metal working, a dozen pieces of imported Mediterranean amphoras, and a carved bronze head (stylistically "Celtic").

Though the finds from the Tor are rich, their interpretation is rather difficult. Rahtz came up with four possibilities:

Two north-south aligned graves (containing the leg bones of two individuals well under 20 years old) found on the Tor might support the first explanation, but there is no evidence of a late Roman temple at Glastonbury.FN126 Though the early Christian associations with Glastonbury are many, Rahtz at first ruled out a Celtic monastery or hermitage because the quantity of meat bones seemed contrary to the ascetic lifestyle of "Celtic" monks. Because of the metalworking and Mediterranean imports, Rahtz favored the third interpretation, that the Tor was the fortress of a British chieftain, comparable to the craggy palaces of Dumbarton Rock and Dunadd.FN127 However, others have persisted in prefering the monastic interpretation for the Tor occupation.FN128 Evidence: of meat-eating (i.e. animal bones) has since been found at such monastic sites as Iona and Whithorn, and now Rahtz himself is reconsidering the monastic model.FN129 The Tor may then be the earliest attested eremitic monastic site in Britain, with the hermitage later brought under the control of the more accessible Abbey.FN130 When the new rulers of Wessex began to patronize the Abbey in the seventh century, Glastonbury had long been venerated as a Christian holy site.FN131

HAM HILL Possible

Description:
Hillfort (?)
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery
Late Roman bronze rings
Several Roman coin hoards, fourth-century concentration
Coins of Valentinian II (375-92)
One coin of Arcadius
Possible imported amphoras (Bii)
Saxon shield boss, Evison type B (fifth/sixth century)
Sources:

Ham Hill is one of the largest contour hillforts in Britain, with an oblong plateau enclosed by a circuit of defenses 5km in length. However, imprecise and poorly recorded excavations from 1907 to 1930 have only given slight illumination to probable late Iron Age, Roman, and sub-Roman occupation. More recent casual finds have yielded an abundance of Roman material, including pottery and several coin hoards.FN132 A 12-room Roman villa, associated with a coin series running from Carausius (287-293) to Valentinian II (375-392), has been partially excavated and seems to be part of an even larger complex of at least two phases.FN133 No sub-Roman structures have been identified.

HIGH PEAK Probable

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (Bi, Bii, and Bmisc)
Source:

The coastal hillfort at the top of High Peak in Devon has yielded evidence of Neolithic and sub-Roman occupations during excavations in 1871, 1929, and 1961-64. The only structures identified from the sub-Roman fort were a large single ditch, a rampart which formed the crest of the hill, and a small outer rampart on the eastern side of the site.FN134 These may represent either a univallate or a bivallate contour hillfort, possibly overlooking a harbor. All three excavations turned up sherds of imported amphoras (dating to c.475-650 and representing several vessels), found at the crest of the hill, in the large ditch, and in the small rampart outside the ditch.FN135 Along with the pottery were found animal bones (mostly ox and pig), a small bronze strap, a shale spindle whorl, and a whetstone. The large amounts of charcoal found in all the ditch fills and in the debris on the inner rampart suggest, to its most recent excavator, that the hillfort met a violent end at the hands of advancing Saxons.FN136

KILLIBURY Possible

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (2 fragments of Bi amphoras)
Source: Killibury is a small, double-banked, concentric hillfort of the pre-Roman Iron Age. Limited excavation has revealed evidence that it was reoccupied in the sub-Roman period. Two small sherds, thought to belong to one Bi amphora (fifth or sixth century), were found in the base of the plough-soil.FN137

LUNDY ISLAND Probable

Description:
Cemetery; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery (third and fourth centuries)
Unidentified imported bowl (400-800)
Four inscribed memorial stones (fifth to seventh century)
Sources: Excavations at Beacon Hill on Lundy Island uncovered a cemetery and stone structures dating back to the Iron Age. Several stone-walled huts were associated with third and fourth century pottery, and one fragment belonged to a small red-slipped wheel-made bowl, categorized by Thomas as a minor unidentified ware of the early post-Roman period.FN138 The cemetery contained 30 cist-graves around an unidentified focus, with an enclosure probably dating to the late sixth century.FN139 Four inscribed stones were found associated with the graves: two date to the fifth or early sixth century, one to the late fifth or sixth, and one to the seventh.FN140 The seventh century memorial stone contained an inscribed cross, suggesting that by the seventh century the community using this cemetery was Christian.

MAIDEN CASTLE Probable

Description:
Hillfort; religious shrine
Dating Evidence:
One hoard of Constantinian coins (mid fourth century)
One hoard of coins with dates ranging to 367
Four gold solidi of Arcadius and Honorius
Sources:

The ramparts of Maiden Castle, near Dorchester.
Fig.8 The ramparts of Maiden Castle, near Dorchester.

Maiden Castle, Britain's largest Celtic hillfort, was a political center for the Durotriges tribe before the Roman invasion. It was captured by Vespasian after a bloody massacre of its defenders, and consequently the Durotriges were encouraged to settle in nearby Durnovaria (Dorchester). In the late fourth century, sometime after 367 a Romano-Celtic temple was constructed on the hillfort's plateau.FN141 Maiden Castle, with its large ramparts, may then have become an enclosed shrine similar to the temple at Lydney, possibly associated with a sub-Roman cemetery.FN142 According to its first excavator, the temple at Maiden Castle had its floor replaced, suggesting "an existence prolonged well into the fifth century."FN143 Thereafter, a nearby circular shrine may have replaced the Romano-Celtic temple.FN144 The latest numismatic finds were from a hoard of four gold coins dating to about the first decade of the fifth century found near the temple.FN145

NETTLETON Probable

Description:
Late Roman temple
Dating Evidence:
500 coins dating from 333 to 402
Glass (late fourth and early fifth centuries)
A plumbata (early fifth century)
Metalworking debris
"Saxon" beads
Source:

Excavations at the shrine of Apollo at Nettleton have revealed much and varied activity in the fourth and fifth centuries. Although the temple had become derelict in the second half of the fourth century, sometime after 370 it was adapted for habitation and used as a farmstead until 392 or possibly later.FN146 From knife or sword wounds found on skeletons at the site, the excavator believes that the homestead occupants were massacred as a result of a raid on the settlement sometime after 392.FN147 Some 500 Roman coins, ranging in date from 333 to 402 were found along with other objects on the floor of the "West Lodge" (Building XVIII), and all had apparently been subjected to fire. One object associated with the coins was a plumbata or martiobarbulus, a lead-weighted feathered javelin head comparable to those found at Wroxeter (which date to the early fifth century).FN148 Glass from this building has been assigned to the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and some of the beads found have been typed "Saxon." Reece, examining the coin evidence, sees occupation at the site continuing well into the fifth century.FN149

PHILLACK Probable

Description:
Cemetery
Dating Evidence:
One sherd from a PRSW (Form 3) bowl (c.475-550)
One inscribed stone (c.600)
Sources:

Limited excavation at Phillack in west Cornwall has revealed a cemetery dated artifactually to the sub-Roman period.FN150 The cemetery is enclosed and consists of inhumations in cist-graves oriented east-west, which suggests Christian use.FN151 Dating evidence includes one sherd from a Phocean Red Slip Ware bowl and a nearby inscribed stone of c.600.FN152 The evidence from Phillack compares to similar burial sites in the Scillies.FN153

THE SCILLY ISLES (Sillina) Probable

Description:
Pagan shrine; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (Bii, Biv, and E ware)
Merovingian buckle and girdle hanger
Source:

These islets were once connected by the now submerged sea-bed to Cornwall. There is both literary and archaeological evidence that the Scillies were inhabited throughout the Roman period. The Emperor Maximus exiled two Priscillianist heretics to Scilly in the fourth century. A Romano-Celtic pagan shrine found on Nor'nour yielded a late Roman treasure trove (including Roman coins of the late fourth century, glass, bronze finger-rings, pots, domestic pottery, bronze brooches, and clay goddess-figurines from Gaul), suggesting a lingering paganism to the beginning of the fifth century.FN154 An early Christian wooden church was replaced by a stone chapel on St Helen's, and the few graves excavated point to Christian cemeteries in the Scillies.FN155 Scattered finds of imported pottery, found at Mary's Hill and Tean, and a Merovingian buckle and girdle hanger found at Tean, indicate commercial activity from the mid fifth to seventh centuries.FN156

SHEPTON MALLET Possible

Description:
Small town; early Christian cemetery
Dating Evidence:
Bronze and silver coinage of the fourth century
Silver Chi-Rho amulet (c.400)
Late Roman pottery
Sources: Shepton Mallet was a (recently discovered) small Romano-British settlement, flourishing in the fourth century, situated on the Fosse Way between the larger towns of Bath and Ilchester. Excavations have revealed building-complexes, cobbled streets, and three small cemeteries. No town defenses, and no apparent planning scheme, meant that these cemeteries could be located close to inhabited buildings, and were perhaps privately-owned plots.FN157 Most burials were in wooden coffins (only the iron nails survived) set into rock-cut graves, with few surviving grave goods.FN158 The largest cemetery contained 17 inhumations aligned east-west within a ditched enclosure, and included one lead coffin and another burial accompanied by a silver cross-shaped amulet with a Chi-Rho symbol punched into it.FN159 This positive identification of a Christian burial suggests a probable Christian community at Shepton Mallet in the later fourth century. Pottery and coinage take us up to about 400, but it is unclear how long after this the Christian community remained. There are some traces of timber structures cut into the latest levels of Roman buildings, suggesting post-Roman continuity, but dating these structures is not yet possible.FN160

SOUTH CADBURY (Cadbury Castle, "Camelot") Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery
One coin of Honorius (c.393-402)
Imported pottery (PRSW, ARSW, Bi, Bii, Biv, Bmisc, and D ware)
Saxon gilt bronze button brooch (late fifth/early sixth century)
Saxon silver ring/brooch (late sixth century)
Sources:

View from the plateau of Cadbury Castle, Somerset.
Fig.9 View from the plateau of Cadbury Castle, Somerset.

The hill at South Cadbury, sometimes called "South Cadbury Castle" and "Cadbury-Camelot," was the site of one of the most publicized (and published) British excavations of the 1960s. The association with the fabled court of King Arthur was made by two prominent Tudor antiquarians, John Leland and William Camden, disregarding other sites traditionally associated with Arthur (e.g. Celliwic, Caerleon, Winchester) and the fact that "Camelot" was invented by Chrétien de Troyes or his successors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.FN161 However, when ploughing on the hill in the 1950s turned up sherds of late Roman Mediterranean pottery, large-scale excavations soon commenced under the direction of Leslie Alcock, who had recently excavated the precedent-setting hillfort of Dinas Powys.
South Cadbury and Dinas Powys are both heavily fortified hill-top settlements which yielded strong evidence of sixth-century activity. There are other factors, however, which set South Cadbury apart from the Dinas Powys model. Most obvious is the sheer size of the hill: over 500 feet high, with steep sides defended by five massive ramparts, enclosing a plateau of about 18 acres. Burrow has estimated that it would have taken a force of about 870 men to defend and maintain the ramparts alone, compared to about 400-650 for the comparably sized Cadbury-Congresbury.FN162 Also of significance is the extended sequence of activity at South Cadbury, noted by Alcock as one of the longest stratified sequences in western Europe.FN163 Neolithic activity (beginning about 4500 BC) is indicated by pottery, flints, and both human and animal bones. A native farmstead occupied in the late Bronze Age (eighth century BC) fell to Iron Age invaders in the sixth or seventh century BC, when the first artificial ramparts were constructed. The Iron Age occupation was brought to a violent end shortly after the Roman invasion of AD43 presumably during the campaigns of Vespasian, when the defenses were partly dismantled. Roman occupation (dated by coins, pottery, and military equipment) was slight until the third century, when a Romano-Celtic temple was constructed (out of timber) and frequently visited (coins range from 222-35 to 393-402). The defenses were repaired on a massive scale in the later fifth century and timber structures were constructed in the interior, all associated with Mediterranean imports. After a long period of abandonment, the fort was the site of a late Saxon burg and royal mint during the reign of Ethelred (beginning of the eleventh century), whence the gateways were rebuilt in stone. Finally, after Cnut's accession in 1017 the burg was abandoned and the hilltop given up to cultivation.
What Alcock terms the "Arthurian" period of occupation or Cadbury 11 - the fifth and sixth centuries AD - is dated by the abundant finds of imported pottery, including fine red bowls, Mediterranean amphoras, and grey bowls and mortaria from the Bordeaux region. The quantity of sherds suggests a minimum vessel number comparable to that of Cadbury-Congresbury, and second only to Tintagel.FN164 Sealed and scattered pottery were found in the post-holes and wall-trench of a rectangular structure on the summit of the hill. This building, about 19m long by 10m wide, was interpreted by Alcock as the principal building of the fort, probably a feasting hall.FN165 Other post-holes suggest interior divisions and an antechamber. Such halls feature prominently in the poetry of the British Heroic Age, but only a few examples--notably Yeavering and Doon Hill--have been excavated and published.FN166 Alcock, however, suggests that the model for the Cadbury hall was not the Germanic feasting hall but rather the aisled houses of villa complexes in later Roman Britain.FN167 Though these were occasionally rebuilt in timber, a better model might be the massive timber building complexes constructed at the baths basilica in sub-Roman Wroxeter.FN168 Only one other pottery-dated structure was excavated at Cadbury 11, that of a small (4m x 2m) rectangular building near the northern door of the hall which has been interpreted as a kitchen.FN169 Finally, some of the smaller round houses previously attributed to the Iron Age may belong instead to Cadbury 11 with parallels at Cadbury-Congresbury and Buiston.FN170
Much of the imported pottery was found in association with the rebuilt defenses and the south-west gate. "The hill-top had been re-fortified with a timber fighting platform," writes Alcock, "faced with dressed stone and anchored down with rubble."FN171 Stone for the ramparts had been quarried from derelict Roman buildings and was re-used unmortared in the non-Roman fashion of dry masonry. The absence of nails suggests wooden pegged joints were used, a somewhat sophisticated carpentry technique.FN172 The timber gate-tower constructed at the south-west gate was seemingly based on the simple Roman auxiliary fort gate model, and showed signs of repair in the later sixth century.FN173 It likely contained two double-leaved doors, an interior bridge, and possibly a light tower.FN174 In all, the defensive circuit spans nearly 1200m, the same as the perimeter of the Iron Age fort. The size of the Cadbury defenses is without parallel among contemporary hillforts in Britain.
The size of South Cadbury's fortifications and the large quantity of imported pottery discovered there make it and Tintagel the two most significant sub-Roman occupation sites in the south-west. It should be noted that only six percent of the hillfort's summit was excavated by Alcock's team, and future excavation is likely to turn up a greater variety of structural and artifactual evidence.

TINTAGEL (Durocornovium?) Definite

Description:
Promontory hillfort; early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Two inscribed milestones (third and fourth centuries)
Sherds of Oxford Red Color-Coated ware (fourth century)
10 bronze coins ranging from Tetricus I to Constantius II
Radiocarbon estimate from charcoal (calibrated: c.AD 403)
Archaeomagnetic date (AD 450-500)
Imported pottery (PRSW Form 3, ARSW, Bi, Bii, Biv, Bv, Bmisc, and D ware)
Glass fragments from drinking vessels
Slight traces of metalworking
Merovingian (?) ring-ornament
Sources:

Modern passageway to "Tintagel Island."
Fig.10 Modern passageway to "Tintagel Island."

Terraces and Iron Gate on "Tintagel Island."
Fig.11 Terraces and Iron Gate on "Tintagel Island."

The picturesque ruins of the Norman castle at Tintagel have inspired writers from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Tennyson who have helped add "King Arthur's Castle" to the tourist's map. More recently, archaeologists and historians have begun to unravel the complex history of the site, whose "Dark Age" phase is showing signs of activity on a grander scale than the legends themselves.
Beyond the inner ward of the Norman castle, on the high protruding headland called "Tintagel Island," lay the remains of several small rectangular structures made of stone and slate. Radford's excavation of these structures in the 1930s revealed thousands of sherds of imported pottery, then known as "Tintagel ware." Because this pottery dated to the fifth to seventh centuries and was used primarily for the transportation of wine and oil, Radford interpreted the headland settlement as a remote Celtic monastery.
The monastic model for Tintagel was commonly accepted until the 1970s, when Ian Burrow and others began casting doubts on Radford's interpretation of the stone huts, whose number has now grown from 30 to over 100.FN175 Because Tintagel does not appear as a monastery in Cornish hagiography, and because no early Christian church or cemetery have been found at the castle site, archaeologists now doubt that the stone huts are monastic "cells." Some are likely barracks belonging to the Norman castle, while others - on both the plateau of the headland and on its terraces - are multi-period, including drystone buildings contemporary with the imported pottery.FN176
The monastic model is now being replaced by a secular interpretation of the Tintagel settlement. The new models proposed are 1) a fortress or royal seat, and 2) an international port of trade. The first model is supported more by linguistic and literary evidence than archaeology. The name "Tintagel" is thought to derive from the Cornish tin/din, "fort," and tagell, "neck or constriction."FN177 Thomas believes that Tintagel's original identity as a castle or fortress was perpetuated by the Romans, making it the coastal Durocornovium ("fort of the Cornovii") listed in the Ravenna Cosmography.FN178 Two inscribed Roman milestones have been found in Tintagel, as well as Roman coins and both commercial and locally made pottery of the third and fourth centuries.FN179 Whatever role it played during the Roman occupation, later tradition made Tintagel the fortified seat of the rulers of Dumnonia, including Mark and Tristan. This tradition, in turn, may have had something to do with the location here of the twelfth- or thirteenth-century Norman castle which Geoffrey of Monmouth linked with Arthur.FN180
The second model holds that Tintagel was a major late and sub-Roman port of trade, perhaps occupied only seasonally. This theory is based primarily on the enormous amount of imported pottery which has been (and still is being) uncovered on the headland. More fine pottery and amphoras - over 300 vessels in all - have been found at Tintagel than at any other site in Britain and Ireland.FN181 Slight traces of metalworking found at Tintagel support the widely-held view that Cornish tin was traded for the imports,FN182 which Dark suggests passed first through Frankish middle-men (hence the possibly Merovingian ring-ornament) before arriving in Britain.FN183 Minor excavation on the headland in the 1980s began to uncover evidence of associated structures, including a possible sub-Roman wharf below the Iron Gate and a court beneath the Norman hall of the Inner Ward.FN184 In the Lower Ward, on the mainland, excavation revealed two hearths, a well-built oven, a multitude of butchered and cooked bones, and imported glass, pottery, and metalwork, suggesting intensive food preparation and cooking at the site.FN185 One of the clay hearths yielded an archaeomagnetic date of AD 450-500 (at a 68% confidence level).FN186
Charles Thomas has recently re-evaluated the evidence at Tintagel for English Heritage.FN187 He argues that there are too many geographic problems at Tintagel headland (a restricted location, vulnerability to gales and salt-laden spray, meagre and shallow soil cover, a limited water supply) to have made it suitable for year-round habitation, so that during the period of its imports (about 450 to 650) it is more likely to have been inhabited only periodically, perhaps solely during the summer months.FN188 However, the construction of a ditch-and-rampart line across its only point of landward access, along with the metal-working and ostentatious signs of wealth, make it an ideal candidate for a fortress. Thomas sees Tintagel Island as a stronghold of the post-Roman kings of Dumnonia, but one used only periodically as part of an irregular sequence of dynastic visitations, where food as well as goods required for overseas trade were brought to the king under a system of enforced obligations.FN189 Such itinerant kings are well-attested in the early medieval world, the theory being that it was easier to take the larger royal households to the food than it was to maintain them in one permanent location.FN190
Even if the settlement on the headland turns out to be thoroughly secular, there is still strong evidence for early Christianity at Tintagel. Thomas led two seasons of excavation at the Tintagel Parish Churchyard, which is on the mainland not far from the castle. His team uncovered two slate-lined graves, two rock-covered burial mounds, and one memorial pillar; associated imported pottery and a cross on one of the slates identify the site as early Christian (400-600).FN191 Near the graves were found traces of open-air fires, the remains of which yielded a (calibrated) radiocarbon date centering on AD 403.FN192 Thomas suggests that the fire and pottery are the remains of a funeral meal held at the Christian cemetery, a custom common at this time on the continent.FN193 Remains of a low bank of earth and stones surrounding the yard yielded a sherd of ARSW, suggesting that an enclosure was added to the cemetery in the later sixth century.FN194 Its excavators see Tintagel Churchyard as an important burial ground "contemporary and associated with the post-Roman use of the Island."FN195

TRETHURGY Probable

Description:
Circular fortification (a "round")
Dating Evidence:
Grass-marked pottery
Imported pottery (PRSW, Bi, Bii, Biv, Bmisc, and E ware)
Imported glass
Source:

Trethurgy is a univallate hill-slope enclosure, one of many circular walled and ditched fortifications common in south-western Britain referred to as Cornish "rounds." Trethurgy has produced locally-made pottery and some 50 sherds from imported amphoras, representing four different styles of vessels, along with sherds of Phocean Red Slip Ware and E ware from Gaul.FN196 The pottery range suggests a period of occupation throughout the fifth and sixth centuries.FN197 Also found was a tin ingot, which lends support to the theory that Cornish tin was exchanged for the Mediterranean and Gaulish imports.FN198

WELLS Possible

Description:
Mausoleum
Sources:

Recent excavation at Wells Cathedral has revealed a late or sub-Roman stone building standing beside the first Anglo-Saxon church. The building has been tentatively identified as a mausoleum.FN199

WEST HILL ULEY Probable

Description:
Romano-Celtic temple
Dating Evidence:
32 bronze coins of Arcadius
8 silver and bronze coins of Honorius
6 "House of Theodosius" bronze coins
Glass drinking cups (fourth century)
Grass-tempered ware
Shell-tempered ware
Oxfordshire ware
Window glass (seventh to ninth century)
Sources:

A major rescue excavation in 1977 uncovered a temple complex on West Hill in Uley. Coinage indicates a series of religious structures built on the site beginning in the LPRIA and continuing in the Roman and post-Roman periods. The major feature was a small Romano-Celtic temple consisting of stone-walled concentric rectangles with associated bronze coinage and other votive objects. Coin evidence suggests that the temple was built in the second quarter of the fourth century and demolished c.400. This occurred with a systematic dismantling of the buildings and the careful removal of the stonework.FN200
Excavation further disclosed at least three phases of post-temple structures, associated with Theodosian coinage and various types of Romano-British pottery. The first of these structures, represented by large post pits and beam slots cut through the demolished remains of the stone temple, has been interpreted as a double-aisled timber basilica (11m x 9.2m), probably a church, constructed sometime after the last coins were deposited (c.402).FN201 No apse was identified, but an attached polygonal structure may have served as a baptistry (with a conjectured altar).FN202 In the late fifth or sixth century, a perimeter bank was built around the complex, with two foundations of dry stone footings and postholes at the north end possibly representing gate towers with stair-turrets.FN203
In the late sixth or early seventh century, the timber basilica was dismantled and a smaller stone structure was erected over the north-eastern corner of the basilica.FN204 This rectangular masonry building was later given an apse, and has been interpreted as a two-cell chapel. Associated with the chapel were ten fragments of blue-green window glass, some containing dark red streaks, which have parallels with Anglo-Saxon churches and are thus most likely post-Roman.FN205 Also possibly connected with the stone church is a polygonal open-sided structure south of the church with mortared stone footings, interpreted as an open "screen" roofed with re-used Roman tiles.FN206 The incorporation of the pagan altar and a statue of Mercury into the sub-Roman structures' walls lends support to the excavators' explanation of Uley as a Christian takeover of a pagan shrine.FN207

WINCHESTER (Venta Belgarum) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
One coin of Valentinian I (364-75)
One bronze coin, "House of Theodosius" issue (c.388-402)
Sherds of Romano-British pottery (late fourth century)
Sources:

The remains of the late Roman buttress at Winchester's Westgate.
Fig.12 The remains of the late Roman buttress at Winchester's Westgate.

A late Roman cemetery at Lankhills, just outside of Winchester's north gate, has yielded an abundance of graves dating to the late fourth or early fifth century.FN208 Some of these graves were cut into by sub-Roman structures, labelled by the excavators Features 24, 25 and 26. Features 25 and 26 appear to have been bedding-trenches for plants forming the boundary of a garden.FN209 While there was some decay in street and drain maintenance, there were also metallings (of inferior quality) and new timber structures which encroached on the carriageways.FN210 Wacher believes the citizenry began building their houses on top of the paved city streets because they provided a firm, well-drained foundation.FN211 "These metallings and structures," comments Esmonde Cleary, "however much they represent a decline in standards, also represent a continuation of population."FN212

Wales

ABERFFRAW Possible

Description:
Auxiliary fort (?); princely stronghold
Dating Evidence:
Roman pottery
Sources:

Excavation at Aberffraw, on Anglesey, revealed what appeared to be--because of associated pottery--a late Roman auxiliary fort. Its stone rampart was rebuilt, according to the excavator, possibly as a ballista platform, "in the fifth or sixth centuries by the founders of what was to be one of Gwynedd's most successful dynasties."FN213 Edwards does not believe that Aberffraw was a Roman fort, but rather that its construction was wholly the work of the kings of Gwynedd in the fifth century.FN214 An inscribed lead coffin, bearing the Alpha and Omega (and possibly the Chi-Rho) symbols, suggests a wealthy Christian community in early post-Roman Anglesey.FN215

BREIDDIN/NEW PIECES Possible

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Late or post-Roman glass bead
Fragment from a glass beaker (fifth/sixth century)
Source:

The Breiddin is one of the largest hillforts in Britain, its inner rampart enclosing 28ha. A probably late or post-Roman glass bead was found on the enclosure. The globular bead is of crackled turquoise glass.FN216 Excavations in the 1930s at nearby New Pieces, a small bivallate enclosure, yielded one--perhaps two--pieces of glass dated to the fifth or sixth century. The more distinctive piece is from a colorless or pale green glass vessel, probably a tall beaker.FN217

CAERLEON (Isca) Probable

Description:
Legionary fortress
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (Bv)
Radiocarbon date of burial (c.660-940)
Sources:

Remains of the legionary barracks at Caerleon.
Fig.13 Remains of the legionary barracks at Caerleon.

The fortress of Isca was systematically dismantled after its legion was removed c.260. Thereafter civilian occupation continued in Caerleon until at least 375 and an early Christian tradition in the city is suggested by the literary sources.FN218 Some time after 354 two round-ended buildings (K and L) were constructed over the via vicinaria and the verandah of barrack block A.FN219 Building K, which has left the most traces, was originally 7.2m x 4.5m with "two post-holes flanking a tegula which had been reused as part of a threshold," stone walls (one of which concealed a late military bronze belt fitting) and partitions, and a floor of well-laid rubble paving.FN220 Inserted under the paved floor was a single female inhumation burial, the skeletal remains yielding a radiocarbon date of c.660-940.FN221 "The need for extra buildings in a vernacular style may imply," according to the excavators, "a considerable population for Caerleon during the earlier part of the [medieval] period." FN222 Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the twelfth century, described baths, temples, water conduits, hypocausts, and an amphitheatre which were still standing at Caerleon in his day.FN223

CAERNARVON (Segontium) Probable

Description:
Roman fort
Dating Evidence:
One clipped siliqua, probably of Theodosius (379-95)
Four penannular brooches (fifth century)
Metalworking debris
Sources:

The Roman fort of Segontium, which underwent extensive internal modifications in the fourth century, appears to have been manned up to about 410 (or that time when payment failed to reach the frontier).FN224 Sub-Roman activity is indicated by a new sentry-box built in the SE guardroom of the SW gateway, and two penannular brooches dating stylistically to the fifth century.FN225 An early medieval church was founded just outside of Segontium, at Llanbeblig, and ordered government in this area is indicated by terms like civis and magistratus inscribed on the sixth-century Penmachno stone.FN226

CAERWENT (Venta Silurum) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
Seven Theodosian coin hoards (coin range 388-402)
Seven late Roman buckles
Two lead-weighted javelin heads (martiobarbuli )
One fine zoomorphic penannular brooch
Radiocarbon dating of graves (fifth to eighth centuries)
Class G penannular brooch
Two spiral pins (seventh century)
Sources:

Caerwent began as a fort and developed into a large town and civitas center. In the middle of the fourth century, the town defenses were strengthened with the addition of at least eleven external towers, heptagonal in shape and irregularly spaced.FN227 Also at this time both the south and north gates at Caerwent were blocked, seemingly in answer to some external threat.FN228 Several Theodosian coin hoards were found at Caerwent, deposited after buildings had collapsed and possibly, as has been suggested by Reece, as late as the second or third quarter of the fifth century.FN229
Graffiti scratched on the walls of the curia in the basilica have been assigned to the fifth century, and the forum remained in use some time after that.FN230 Drains were built running through the blocked-up gates, suggesting that the baths were still operating for some time until they collapsed and were replaced by another structure, possibly a church.FN231 Though this interpretation has been questioned, four other stone buildings have been identified recently as early medieval and may have belonged to the sixth-century monastery founded by the Irish Saint Tathan.FN232 Stylistic analysis of jewelry found in the town confirms occupation and activity during this period.FN233
The excavation of a cemetery just outside the walls of Caerwent revealed further evidence of sub-Roman occupation. Radiocarbon dates taken from the graves show that the people of Caerwent continued to be buried in this cemetery in the fifth and sixth centuries; in fact, the continuity extends to the eighth or ninth century when the settlement was clearly monastic.FN234 One interesting burial contained a Roman coin (c.335-48) and a late Roman bracelet, yet radiocarbon analysis indicated a date of c.540-770. "If this is correct," comment Knight and Lane, "it implies the continuing use of Roman objects well into the early medieval period."FN235

CALDEY ISLAND Possible

Description:
Early Christian site (?)
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (PRSW and E ware)
Early Christian inscribed stone (fifth or sixth century)
Sources:

Two long-cist burials were found in early excavations on Caldey Island, near St David's Church and the medieval priory respectively.FN236 An early Christian ogam inscribed stone (ECMW No. 301) found near the priory could support the later hagiographic evidence of a sixth-century monastery founded on the site of the later priory by Abbot Pyro.FN237
More recently, Ewan Campbell has identified two sherds of imported pottery found in the vicinity of St David's Church.FN238 One is a sherd of Phocaean Red Slip Ware imported from Asia Minor in the mid fifth or sixth century; the other is a sherd of E ware, probably from a Merovingian jar imported in the seventh century. Campbell believes that these imports belonged to a secular settlement at St David's associated with the nearby landing place and perhaps the cist burials, and contemporary with the sixth-century monastic(?) foundation at the priory.FN239

CAPEL MAELOG Probable

Description:
Ditch enclosure; early Christian site?
Dating Evidence:
Late Romano-British pottery (third and fourth centuries)
Radiocarbon dates from charcoal (calibrated: AD 410-560; AD 576-658; AD 429-599; AD 427-596; AD 543-645; AD 392-538.
Sources:

The medieval church of Capel Maelog lies on a low hill in the outskirts of the modern town of Llandridod Wells. The site was extensively escavated between 1984 and 1987, revealing substantial activity beginning in the late Roman period. Excavators uncovered a sub-rectangular enclosure underlying the eatern end of the medieval church. The enclosure was approximately 18m across internally, with a single ditch 2m wide and 1m deep.FN240 Two charcoal samples from the primary filling yielded calibrated radiocarbon dates centered in the sub-Roman period. Several sherds of late Romano-British pottery (including two sherds from an Oxford color-coated ware bowl, four sherds of Black Burnished Ware, and several sherds from a Severn Valley Ware jar) were also found in the ditch filling along with scattered fragments of Roman glass. Within the western side of the early enclosure was a curving ditch (7.4m x 1.6m x 1m) which also yielded radiocarbon dates centering in the fifth and sixth centuries. Four widely scattered post-holes were also found, but remain undated.
Interpretation of these features is difficult. The early enclosure beneath the medieval church appears to have originated in the fourth or early fifth centuries, with its ditch receiving silting in the sixth and seventh centuries, but its function remains obscure.FN240a An extensive early cemetery, with coffins and other inhumations around a focal grave, is established inside the enclosure shortly after the seventh century, and a stone church is built there by the tenth century.

COYGAN CAMP Probable

Description:
Promontory fort
Dating Evidence:
Roman pottery (late second to late fourth centuries)
Imported pottery (PRSW and Bi)
Two crucibles
Three spear-heads
One dagger
Sources:

Coygan Camp is an Iron Age promontory fort which has shown signs of occupation in the Roman and early medieval periods. The fort was defended on its north and west sides by a stone-built rampart with revetments on both sides. Four structures ("huts") have been identified, of both stone and timber construction, but no finds were associated with them to allow for dating.FN241
There is an abundance of finds, however, from other areas of the site. Coins and pottery show that the Roman period occupation extends from at least the second to the fourth century.FN242 Sixth-century occupation is attested by the presence of imported pottery (one sherd of a Bi amphora and five sherds of Phocaean Red Slip Ware) which came from complete vessels and pre-date the rampart tumble.FN243 Other finds of possible early medieval date include two crucibles, a bronze ingot, a dagger, and three spear-heads of non-Roman type. Campbell believes that the range of finds suggests continuity of occupation from the Roman to early medieval periods, while "the imported pottery indicates that there must have been a high-status site at Coygan in the sixth century."FN244

DEGANNWY CASTLE (Arx Decantorum) Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Coins ranging from Gallienus (260-68) to Valens (364-78)
Late Roman pottery (fourth century)
Imported pottery (Bi and Bmisc)
Post-Roman glass (?)
Sources:

The twin peaks of Degannwy Castle, near Conwy, Wales.
Fig.14 The twin peaks of Degannwy Castle, near Conwy, Wales.

The medieval fortifications of Degannwy Castle straddle two craggy hilltops overlooking Conwy Bay. Leslie Alcock's excavations between 1961 and 1966 revealed traces of early medieval structures beneath the thirteenth century castle, especially on the western hill. A drystone wall and two trenches were uncovered on the eastern side of the hill, though this may have enclosed the entire summit. The drystone wall is not closely datable, though datable glass and pottery were found (unstratified) very near it.FN245
Artifactual evidence suggests occupation in the Roman period and a long sequence throughout the medieval period. Late Roman finds include a coin sequence extending from Gallienus (260-68) to Valens (364-78) and pottery "calcite-gritted material and a 'Dinorben' bowl"of similar date.FN246 Early medieval objects include one sherd from a Bi amphora, datable to the late fifth to mid sixth century, and about a dozen fragments from "B miscellaneous" amphoras.FN247 These were found associated with a fragment of possibly post-Roman glass.
Though there is an absence of coins of the period 330-48, Roman occupation at Degannwy is likely to extend from the 260s to the 370s.FN248 The imported pottery argues for early sixth-century occupation, while there is an absence of material to argue for continuity. Later tradition associates Degannwy Castle with Maelgwn of Gwynedd, one of the tyranni denounced by Gildas. Though the tradition is a strong one, it may be rather late.FN249 Likewise, an entry in the Annales Cambriae for the year 812 states that "The citadel of the Canti ( Decantorum arx) is struck by lightning and burnt," and this is usually identified with Degannwy.FN250

DINAS EMRYS Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Gilt-bronze studs (late or post-Roman)
Late Roman pottery (fourth century)
Seven glass vessels (c.400)
Imported potttery (Biv and E ware)
Chi-Rho stamped plate (sixth century)
Sources:

The craggy hillfort of Dinas Emrys lies on one of the principal routes through Snowdonia. Excavations in 1910 and in the 1950s revealed several stone walls and revetted platforms surrounding a small summit. On the summit were found the stone foundations of an oval structure, a square pool or cistern, several post-holes (possibly belonging to a palisade), and other structures of indeterminate date and function.
The artifactual evidence ranges from the early Roman to the medieval period. Roman period finds include pottery, glass, an iron brooch, and three "Donside" terrets (rein-rings from a chariot). Late Roman and early medieval finds include gilt-bronze studs, mortaria (late third or fourth century), color-coated wares and calcite-gritted vessels (late fourth century), at least seven glass vessels, a two-handled Biv amphora (fifth or sixth century), and a roundel cut from a pottery sherd with a Chi-Rho pattern on it (sixth century).
Dating the periods of occupation at Dinas Emrys has proven to be difficult and controversial. The early material, thought to belong to Iron Age or early Roman occupation, may have been brought to the site at a later date.FN251 Late Roman occupation seems certain--because of the abundance of pottery and glass--and probably spans the fourth century. Early medieval occupation is indicated by the imported pottery (fifth to sixth centuries), and both the middle and main ramparts rest on late Roman material.FN252
More questions surround the nature of the pool, discovered in Savory's excavations. The 1910 excavation sought the legendary sinking tower of Vortigern, but uncovered the remains of a Norman castle instead. When Savory uncovered the pool and found it contained fifth- or sixth-century imported pottery, it was hard not to see it as the pool where Vortigern is confronted by the prophetic boy as described in the Historia Brittonum. Radiocarbon dating and a sherd of medieval pottery seem to contradict this, though this material may be intrusive.FN253 Even more perplexing is the presence of some 33 posts erected within the pool, which must have seen a long and complex sequence of activity.

DINAS POWYS Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (PRSW, Bi, Bii, D and E ware)
"Anglo-Saxon" and continental glass (bowls and beakers)
Bonework, trinkets, and metalworking debris
Mold for a zoomorphic penannular brooch (sixth century)
Sources:

Dinas Powys, near Cardiff in Glamorganshire, is a small hilltop settlement surrounded by crude defensive earthworks. Leslie Alcock's excavations in the 1950s, extensively documented, made Dinas Powys the classic site of post-Roman Celtic archaeology. In the thirty years since the excavations were first published, Alcock and others have reassessed and reinterpreted the nature of the sub-Roman settlement at Dinas Powys in the light of new discoveries at similarly occupied hillforts.
The post-Roman occupation of Dinas Powys does not represent the re-use or refortification of an Iron Age hillfort. Though some Iron Age pottery was discovered at the site, no Iron Age structures were recognized.FN254 Excavation did reveal an abundance of Roman-period material, including colored glass and window-glass (first to second century), Samian ware (second century), a Roman brick, a La Tène brooch (first century), and tools for the manufacture of shale armlets.FN255 Because these objects were not associated with Roman-period structures, Alcock believes that they were brought to the site as "mementos" in the fifth and sixth centuries. Others have questioned Alcock's "mementos theory." Rahtz has suggested that the Roman fine table- and glass-wares were hoarded heirlooms that came into use again when pottery and glass became extremely scarce in late fifth-century Britain.FN256 The Laings believe that the Romano-British material, because it falls mostly into the first and second centuries, must represent contemporary occupation of some sort. FN257 They would even date one of the earthen banks to the early Roman period, which could disrupt the chronology of the sub-Roman phases.
Alcock's sub-Roman phase which he labels "Phase 4/Early Christian" has three further divisions (A, B, and C) and spans the fifth through seventh centuries. Phase 4A (fifth century) is represented by three industrial hearths (with associated metal working debris), fence holes, one defensive bank and ditch, an incomplete timber structure, a child's grave, and the earliest imported pottery (PRSW). Phase 4B (fifth to seventh centuries) showed continued industrial activity, the construction of two stone houses (inferred from two rectangular gullies), and the latest pottery imports (E ware). Phase 4C (seventh to eighth centuries) began with the construction of a second defensive bank and ditch and ended with the abandonment of the site.
Though Dinas Powys yielded no impressive structures, the quality and quantity of imported pottery and other early Christian material from Alcock's excavations have made it possible to answer broader questions about economic and industrial aspects of British society. Dinas Powys ranks just below Tintagel and Cadbury-Congresbury in the amount of imported pottery it has yielded, which runs from the earliest imports in sub-Roman Britain to the latest. But most remarkable is the wide variety of objects that relate to industrial activity: bronze and iron metalwork, tools for jewelry-making, whetstones and querns, glass beads and other raw materials. Accompanying these were objects of likely domestic use, such as the Samian tableware, Roman and Germanic glass vessels, carved bone pins, and fine antler combs.
What has perhaps caused the most discussion is the enormous quantity of animal bones discovered at Dinas Powys. Some 12,000 bones (representing sheep, cattle, and pigs) were uncovered by the excavators, though only a fraction have been studied in detail. FN258 Analyses indicate that whole animals were entering the settlement at Dinas Powys and being butchered there.FN259 It is not clear, however, whether the inhabitants favored cattle or pig.
Alcock relied heavily on this information about farming economy and industry to formulate his first interpretation of Dinas Powys. He concluded that the early Christian occupation was that of a princely court (llys) or stronghold which received tribute in the form of food renders and whose economy depended on animal byproducts supplemented by craft industries. Although some have questioned Alcock's use of later Welsh and medieval literary sources to formulate the "llys model," no other interpretation of Dinas Powys has gained acceptance. On the contrary, Alcock's model may be gaining more support as other hillfort occupation comes to light. The question, then, is how does Dinas Powys compare with other fortified sites in Wales and Dumnonia receiving imported goods in the sub-Roman period?FN260 Esmonde Cleary, expressing support for Alcock's model, points out the problems presented by Dinas Powys:

These [hillforts] . . . were presumably the residences of local rulers. At Dinas Powys the artefactual assemblage included ARSW [pottery] and glass from the Rhineland, which indicates extensive contacts. The site itself was defended and therefore could presumably call upon the labour and resources of a large area round about. Yet the buildings were small and simple. Status must have been proclaimed largely by means which leave us little or no trace.FN261

The means of displaying status, if we are to judge by the evidence of Gildas and the Llandaff Charters, was likely that of clients/retainers and agricultural lands. These leave no archaeological trace, yet are arguably more valuable than lavish buildings and treasure.

DINORBEN Probable

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
One bronze coin of Valens (367-78)
One bronze coin of Gratian (367-75)
Late Romano-British pottery
Polychrome bead fragment
"Saxon" embossed gilt belt plate (late sixth or seventh century)
Source:

More than fifty years of excavation at the multivallate hillfort of Dinorben in Denbighshire revealed several periods of discontinuous occupation spanning the early Iron Age to the sub-Roman period. Around 260 a large roundhouse was built at the northern end of the site, followed by the construction of small curvilinear huts at the southern end.FN262 Associated items include a large number of Roman coins, the latest being two very worn "House of Valentinian" bronzes from Arles.FN263 By the fourth century, Dinorben appears to have become a rural estate, akin to a southern villa, with the roundhouse possibly representing the residence of a Romano-Celtic noble.FN264 The roundhouse was succeeded, probably in the early fifth century, by a roughly constructed aisled timber dwelling (identified from a system of post-holes) at the northern end associated with fragments of late Roman flanged bowls of fine pink ware.FN265 A sub-Roman reoccupation thus seems likely, though it is not yet possible to trace the continuity between this early fifth-century community and the latest objects from the site, which include several "Anglo-Saxon" ornamental bronze items, a bronze stud (similar to those found at Dinas Powys), and a polychrome (dark blue with white zig-sag lines and yellow and green circular patches) glass bead fragment.FN266

GATEHOLM Probable

Description:
Island settlement
Dating Evidence:
Coins of Carausius and Tetricius I
Samian and mortaria fragments (c.250-350)
Two sherds of Oxford color-coated ware (late fourth century)
A bronze stag figurine
A bronze ringed pin (sixth to ninth century)
A perforated whetstone
A shale ring
Sources:

Gateholm is a small tidal island in the Broad Sound which was perhaps once a promontory attached to the mainland. Its eroding cliffs lead up to a flat plateau which is covered with rows of turf-grown walls. These are seemingly the remains of several sub-rectangular buildings, organized in a more or less homogeneous plan, perhaps protected by a drystone bank. Excavations and occasional finds indicate a long span of occupation.
Activity in the Roman period is indicated by several fragments (31 sherds from 12-18 vessels) of mortaria and samian wares, spanning c.250-350, and one coin each of Carausius and Tetricius I.FN267 Oxford color-coated ware suggests that activity continued to the late fourth century at least, while signs of early medieval occupation include a bronze ringed pin (of sixth- to ninth-century date) and a bronze stag (now lost), the only close parallel that has been found for the stag on the Sutton Hoo whetstone.FN268
Interpretations of the hut settlement at Gateholm have varied. Davies sees it as a homogeneous but unusual "Roman" settlement which began around 250-300 with perhaps intermittent occupation into the post-Roman period.FN269 One sherd of the Oxford ware was incorporated into the cobbling of a building (seen by excavators to be one of the earlier structures) which suggests that it, at least, was not constructed until the very end of the fourth century (and possibly later).FN270 Gateholm has also been compared with Tintagel and considered an isolated monastery; but reconsiderations of the nature of Tintagel have weakened this interpretation.FN271

GLAN-Y-MOR (Cold Knap) Possible

Description:
Roman mansio
Dating Evidence:
Roman pottery, iron, glass, and bronze
A whetstone
A shale bracelet
Food debris yielding radiocarbon dates (600-800 and 780-1045/1155)
Sources:

Excavation at Glan-y-Mor, on the Bristol Channel, revealed "an unusual Roman building complex consisting of 22 rooms and cellars divided into four ranges built around a central court yard."FN272 Signs of occupation during the Roman period include pottery, iron, glass, and bronze items. These artifacts date activity from the late first or early second century to the mid or late fourth century. The building itself probably dates to the late third century and has been identified as "a short-lived mansio."FN273
Subsequent to the partial demolition of this complex, a layer of rubble (containing crushed tile, charcoal, and animal bones) indicates reoccupation in possibly five of the rooms. In addition to this reoccupation, the remains of a round-cornered rectangular building (4.7m x 5.2m) were found in the south-east corner of the central courtyard. The building had a paved floor and two drains running along its walls.FN274
No definitely post-Roman artifacts were found associated with the reoccupations. However, a great quantity of food debris including cattle, sheep, pig and dog bones; deer antlers; and limpet and periwinkle shells were recognized "in post-Roman contexts."FN275 Animal bone from one of the reoccupied rooms gave a radiocarbon date of 600-860, while other reoccupied rooms yielded a whetstone and a shale bracelet which are possibly early medieval.FN276

GRAENOG Probable

Description:
Hut group
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery (second to fourth centuries)
Remanent magnetic date of a hearth (500-550)
Sources:

Graenog is the site of three structures which are part of a round-hut group. Sherds of plain samian pottery and Roman coarse wares have been found over most of the site, dating activity to the second through fourth centuries. After this Roman-period occupation, the structures were re-used and a corn-drying kiln was constructed.FN277 A remanent magnetic date from the hearth in one of the huts yielded a date of 500-550.FN278

HEN GASTELL (Briton Ferry) Probable

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (D and E wares)
Glass
Penannular brooch (Fowler type G)
Source:

Recent excavation by P. Wilkinson at Hen Gastell focused on the summit of the hill and the defenses.FN278a The summit, which measures some 21m x 28m, appears to have been deliberately levelled. At least 15 post-holes were found during excavation, but no clear structural plan has been determined. The summit was defended on its south and west sides by a rock-cut ditch with a bank along its outer rim. The ditch was filled with rubble. The excavator identified three periods of occupation, the earliest belonging to the fifth and sixth centuries. Datable artifacts include both D and E wares, parts of conical glass beakers, and a Fowler type G penannular brooch.

LONGBURY BANK (Little Hoyle) Probable

Description:
Bank and cave settlement
Dating Evidence:
Romano-British pottery
Imported pottery (PRSW, Bi, Bii, Biv, Bmisc, D and E ware)
Merovingian glass
Radiocarbon-dated charcoal (fifth or sixth century)
Silver plate (sixth century)
Type G bronze penannular brooch (seventh century)
Chisel-cut cross(?)
Sources:

Longbury Bank rests on a flat-topped limestone ridge in Pembrokeshire. Several excavations have been carried out on a small cave (Little Hoyle) which runs under the Bank, and an enigmatic vertical shaft rises to the summit of the ridge. There are no visible structures or earthworks on the summit, but a slight break in the slope running across the promontory suggests a boundary or defense.
Roman pottery was discovered in trenches cut (by modern excavators) into the Bank, and two fourth-century Roman coins were found at the nearby manor house of Trefloyne.FN279 Excavations in this century and the last have produced a large quantity of sherds of imported pottery (1 PRSW dish; 1 Bi, 1 or 2 Bii, 1 Biv, and 1 or 2 Bmisc amphoras; a mortarium and a plate of D ware; and 5 E ware vessels), as well as a silver trapezoidal plate of possible Byzantine import, and 63 fragments from at least 15 Merovingian glass drinking vessels.FN280 Items of local provenance include a Type G bronze penannular brooch, an annular loom-weight, shells from various molluscs, and animal bones (mostly cattle).FN281 Two samples of charcoal, which yielded radiocarbon dates centering in the fifth or sixth centuries, confirm late Roman activity and occupation in the late fifth through seventh centuries.FN282
Due to the absence of identifiable structures, it has been difficult to interpret the early medieval settlement at Longbury Bank. Some have suggested occupation within the cave, which was possibly the retreat of a hermit from one of the nearby monasteries (Penally or Caldey).FN283 A simple chisel-cut cross was found above the floor of the shaft, but its date remains problematic.FN284 Most of the imported pottery was found on the summit of the bank, and the site could just as well have been a secular--possibly royal--settlement.FN285 "The association with exotic food and drink is clear," write Campbell and Lane, "and the status of those people able to afford such luxuries can be assumed to be high.".FN286

TY MAWR Probable

Description:
Hut group
Dating Evidence:
Theodosian coin hoard
Uncalibrated radiocarbon dates:AD 520, 530, 540 and 580
Sources:

Remains of hut at Ty Mawr on Holyhead Mountain.
Fig.15 Remains of hut at Ty Mawr on Holyhead Mountain.

Remains of hut at Ty Mawr on Holyhead Mountain.
Fig.16 Remains of hut at Ty Mawr on Holyhead Mountain.

Ty Mawr is a large group of mostly circular stone huts situated on the southern slopes of Holyhead Mountain. The huts lay below an ancient hillfort and are associated with fields which were enclosed and cultivated by the inhabitants. Much attention has been paid to the prehistoric phase of the hut settlement. Late Roman use of the mountain, perhaps as a naval lookout station, is suggested by traces of a signal tower and by a hoard of 22 Theodosian coins, including a clipped siliqua of either Arcadius or Honorius.FN287 Roman pottery and third- and fourth-century coins associated with the huts were discovered by early excavators, though more recently the identification of the group as a Romano-British village has been questioned.FN288
Excavations by Christopher Smith in 1978 to 1982 strongly indicated sub-Roman occupation in the eastern part of the Ty Mawr group. Radiocarbon determinations placed two of the huts (T3 and T4) in the sixth century AD, and indicated the re-use of an older structure (T1) in this period as well as an episode of cultivation in the ancient fields.FN289 Determinations from the site were taken from a large midden of shellfish (mainly limpet) and the charred remains of naked barley and spelt found in "hearths" in the sixth-century huts.FN290 Though the original roundhouse may have been reoccupied, Smith noted that the two sub-Roman huts were smaller and more rectangular than the much earlier hut-circles.FN291 Known locally as Cytian'r Gwyddelod, "the cottages (or huts) of the Goidels (or Irish)," Ty Mawr may have hosted Irish immigrants in the late or sub-Roman periods, though the name could alternatively refer to indigenous occupants.FN292

The Midlands

BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER Possible

Description:
Small unfortified town
Dating Evidence:
One coin of Valentinian
One coin of Honorius
Merovingian(?) grey-ware pottery
Sources:

Bourton was a thriving Roman settlement which developed near the native hillfort of Salmonsbury.FN293 One excavated Roman structure yielded a coin of Valentinian sealed beneath a pavement, and a coin of Honorius was also found on the site.FN294 The coins, along with a sherd of fine wheel-turned grey-ware pottery, possibly Merovingian, suggests continued activity through the fifth century.

CHESTER (Deva) Definite

Description:
Legionary fortress
DatingEvidence:
Roman coinage (c.368-73)
Imported pottery (ARSW, Biv, D and E ware)
Shell-gritted pottery
Sources:

The Roman legionary fortress at Chester was altered dramatically at the end of the third century, when its barracks were completely demolished. The Chester legion, legio XX Valeria Victrix, does not appear in the Notitia Dignitatum, and coinage inside the fortress seems to have run out about 373.FN295 Recent excavation has shown, however, that the administrative buildings at the center of the fortress remained in use after the barracks were demolished and were even refurbished in the fourth century.FN296 Strickland sees fourth-century Chester as "purely an administrative centre, surrounded by acres of [paved] open space, where a field army, when it did eventually come to base, could occasionally bivouac."FN297
It is possible that this administrative role was continued by Chester even after the troop withdrawals of the early fifth century. When buildings were destroyed in the third and fourth centuries, their stone was often used for street-paving, and excavation has shown that these subsequent road surfaces (late fourth/early fifth century) were worn smooth.FN298 At the Abbey Green site, excavators uncovered a large (11m x 5m) timber-framed building constructed on drystone sleeper walls with a gravel and flagged floor.FN299 This building, aligned along the Roman street, apparently underwent several modifications in the fifth and sixth centuries datable by the presence of amphoras and red color-coated vessels imported from the Mediterranean. Higham sees the imported pottery as a sign that Chester's port was still in operation, with a flourishing church in the city causing a demand for wine and oil.FN300
The Laings interpret this as evidence that Chester was the sub-Roman civil administrative center of the kingdom of Powys.FN301 The remains of metalworking (both iron and bronze) found at the Abbey Green site could support the theory of high-satus occupation continuing in the city.FN302 Although, as yet, the archaeological evidence of sub-Roman occupation in Chester is sparse,FN303 the literary evidence amply testifies to a continuing British presence. Bede records two notable events occurring in or near the city at the turn of the seventh century. The first is a council of Welsh church leaders c.601 called in response to Augustine's demands for British obeisance.FN304 After the Britons reject the new archbishop of Canterbury, Bede records (gleefully) the destruction of a British army, along with 1200 British monks, at the Battle of Chester (ad civitatem Legionum) in 615.FN305 Nennius, a century later, lists Chester (in urbe Legionis) as the site of Arthur's ninth battle against the Saxons in the sixth century.FN306 Chester has also been suggested as the base from which St Germanus set out to win the Alleluia Victory in 429.FN307 According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Chester's Roman defenses were in such good shape in the year 894 that they were used by a band of Danes to withstand a two-day siege by English levies.FN308

CIRENCESTER (Corinium Dobunnorum) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
One siliqua of Honorius
Color-coated pottery (late fourth century)
Grass-tempered pottery (fifth or sixth century)
Sources:

Cirencester was Roman Britain's "Second City," after London, and contained flourishing mosaic and sculpture workshops. But the evidence for late Roman Cirencester produces a mixed picture of continued occupation and decay. The floor of the forum was quite worn down, but it was also kept clean and apparently the market flourished here after the cessation of coins.FN309 The Verulamium Gate underwent the refacing of its tower, the rebuilding of the front face of the wall, and the provision of a sluice gate and other flood-prevention work which has been dated on ceramic evidence to the beginning of the fifth century.FN310 A roadside ditch beside Ermine Street yielded evidence that the road also remained well-used (and often repaired), until grass began to grow on it and two unburied bodies were left to rot in the ditch.FN311
There is good evidence for an early Christian presence in Cirencester. As the administrative capital of the province Britannia Prima, Cirencester was likely the see of a bishop, and it has been suggested that the British bishop missing (but represented by a deacon) at the Council of Arles was from Cirencester.FN312 A Christian palindrome, whose letters can be rearranged to form a cross from the words PATER NOSTER, was found carefully scratched into the wall plaster of a house on Victoria Road. It clearly dates from a time when open references to Christianity would have invited persecution.FN313 Excavations at Cirencester's urban cemeteries have yet to yield any clues about this Christian presence. Of the over 400 skeletons exhumed, most were of fourth- or early fifth-century date.FN314
An accumulation of silt and debris in roadside ditches signals that Cirencester began to decline in the middle of the fifth century. At that time, the city population seems to have abandoned their old dwellings and resettled inside the town amphitheatre. In the amphitheatre, which lies just outside the city walls on the Fosse Way, there is abundant evidence of timber buildings and road and wall repairs dated, from associated coins and (grass-tempered) pottery, to the late fifth century.FN315 This has been interpreted as a shrinking city population moving into a smaller and more easily defended area, perhaps to flee disease and epidemic. There is ample evidence of this process from Gaul and Dacia, where Roman amphitheatres were converted into miniature fortified towns.FN316 The ceaster of Chesterton, the modern district wherein the amphitheatre lies, may refer to this fortified settlement.FN317
Was it, then, the amphitheatre of Cirencester rather than the city itself that fell to the Saxons in the Battle of Dyrham in 577? Excavation has revealed no signs of violent destruction in the city. "It may be that the population of fifth century Corinium was no more than a collection of farming families," write Reece and Catling.FN318

DROITWICH (Salinae, Saltwic) Probable

Description:
Small town; salt mine
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery
A coin of Honorius
Radiocarbon dated charcoal (cal AD 435±95 and cal AD 630±30)
Grass-tempered wares
"Anglo-Saxon" pottery and fabrics
Sources:

Droitwich began as a Roman fort established to supervise salt mining at the local brine springs.FN319 One late Roman aisled house contained a paving which sealed a coin of Honorius.FN320 Traces of timber frame buildings also support the view of post-Roman activity continuing at the town, while mining activity certainly continued into the Anglo-Saxon period. At the Upwich Pit, a series of ten brine-boiling hearths and several stake alignments were constructed, the hearths still containing ash and charcoal residue from the processing of salt through this brine-boiling method.FN321 Radiocarbon determinations from the char coal residues provided dates of between cal AD 435±95 and cal AD 630±30. Sub-Roman to Anglo-Saxon continuity seems likely from the presence of an assemblage of grass-tempered wares, pagan "Anglo-Saxon" stamp-decorated pottery, and fragments of "Anglo-Saxon" fabrics. References to Saltwic are found throughout middle and late Saxon charters.

FROCESTER Possible

Description:
Villas
Dating Evidence:
Grass-tempered pottery
Source:

Two Roman villas at Frocester have produced fifth-century burials, with one of these--Frocester Court villa--producing evidence of sub-Roman timber structures.FN322 The stone buildings at Frocester Court were inhabited until the end of the fourth century, though one room had been converted into a stable. In the early fifth century, the villa residents abandoned the stone house and erected at least two timber structures in the courtyard. One building, 14m x 3m, appears to have been a hall built on sill beams laid flat (no post-holes were found) on a floor of stone and gravel. Around this building and in and under its floor were dozens of sherds of grass-tempered pottery. A second structure, 12m x 9m, was erected across part of the courtyard hall and defined by a timber beam-slot and internal post-holes. Four graves found in the courtyard have also been identified as fifth-century burials. Heighway sees Frocester as a significant fifth-century center in Gloucestershire, "perhaps a rural market." FN323

GLOUCESTER (Glevum) Definite

Description:
Colonia
Dating Evidence:
Fel. Temp. Reparatio immitation coins (c.350-75)
12 coins of Honorius
29 coins of Arcadius
Shell-tempered and Oxfordshire wares (late fourth century)
Radiocarbon-dated timber (AD 430±80)
Imported pottery (Bv)
One penannular brooch
Sources:

The military presence in Gloucester in the years leading up to 400 seems to have been very high. The late Roman walling of the city was likely part of a scheme to fortify all the major settlements along the tributaries of the Severn River, to control Irish or Saxon raids up the Bristol Channel.FN324 Gloucester's forum area was in continuous use after the forum itself had been dismantled in the late fourth century, with timber structures replacing stone and evidence of re-planning in the town center in the early fifth century.FN325
Coin evidence associated with the last phase of metalling indicates that the whole forum may have been resurfaced after 390.FN326 A colonnaded stone stucture near the forum was demolished c.370 only to be replaced by a timber building which yielded a radiocarbon date of AD 430±80.FN327 The new timber structure may have been a sub-Roman market booth, for it contained a quantity of bones believed to represent butchery waste. Elswhere, a coin hoard, with several coins of Honorius and Arcadius, seems to have fallen from the rafters of one building and lay on top of debris.FN328 Two or three subsequent occupations overlay the deposition of Fel. Temp. Reparatio imitation coins on Berkeley Street.FN329 A coin of Valens (364-78) was found beneath a mosaic on Southgate Street, while a Roman building in the Blackfriars district was modified late and continued to be used throughout the Saxon period.FN330 Ornamental metalwork, shell-tempered and Oxfordshire wares, and imported pottery (fragments of North African amphoras) testify to occupation continuing into at least the late fifth century.FN331
A late or post-Roman cemetery at Kingsholm may tell us more about this community.FN332 That there were Christians in this community is indicated by a sub-Roman timber mausoleum, containing the skeleton of a male with silver belt-fittings, found overlying a Roman building and beneath the Saxon chapel of St Mary de Lode.FN333 According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gloucester fell to the Saxons at the Battle of Dyrham in 577. If this entry is accurate, the city was then under the control of a king named Conmail. The late Roman earthwork defenses which surrounded the city would have made it an attractive residence for a sub-Roman king.FN334

MILTON KEYNES Possible

Description:
Villa; vicus
Dating Evidence:
Coins of Arcadius (383-408)
Late Roman pottery
Early Saxon pottery
Sources:

In the Milton Keynes area, both the rural site of Bancroft and the vicus at Dropshort (Magiovinium) have produced coins of Arcadius.FN335 At Bancroft, late Roman and early Saxon pottery overlap each other in the same assemblage.FN336

SILCHESTER (Calleva Atrebatum) Definite

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
700 Theodosian coins
A hoard of 51 silver siliquae down to Honorius
One siliqua of Constantine III (407-11)
Argonne sigillata pottery (c.395-420)
One North African red-surfaced pottery lamp (c.395-420)
Two penannular brooches (fourth/fifth century)
Gallo-Roman glass (fifth century)
A "Saxon"bronze button brooch (seventh century)
Ogham inscribed tombstone (seventh century)
Sources:

Remains of the Roman wall circuit at Silchester.
Fig.17 Remains of the Roman wall circuit at Silchester.

Silchester is one of the few former Roman cities in Britain that did not evolve into a medieval and modern town. Thus, the circuit of its Roman walls survives almost completely intact, and excavation of the now-vacant interior has revealed the most complete plan of any Roman town in Britain. The undisturbed nature of Calleva's remains gives hope, as well, that we may learn more about the nature and survival of such towns in the fifth and sixth centuries.
There are numerous signs of new structures and activity in fourth-century Silchester, though the character of occupation was perhaps changing. By 300 the basilica ceased to be used as a public building, being divided by partitions and reorganized as a metal workshop.FN337 As late as 320 large-scale renovations were taking place at the baths, while numerous Theodosian coins (including a bronze coin of Arcadius, c.395-402) attest to activity at the forum.FN338 Sometime during the fourth century the walls of the amphitheatre were torn down, while the inn and one of the temples contained coins of Valens (364-78).FN339 Some of Silchester's townhouses were given fourth-century mosaics (associated coins run down to Honorius), while the south-east gate "was deliberately blocked in the Roman or sub-Roman period" to control traffic moving in and out of the city more easily.FN340 An unusually large number of very worn late Roman coins (including a siliqua of Constantine III, c.407-11), a North African ceramic lamp (c.395-420), fragments from late Roman glass vessels, and bronze accessories (pins, buckles, a bracelet) signify economic activity continuing at Silchester for much of the fifth century.FN341
The most interesting fourth-century structure at Silchester is the "basilican church" discovered near the forum in 1892.FN342 This very small building (13m x 9m) has been the focus of much attention, not least because it was the first Roman structure in Britain to be convincingly identified as a Christian church. The identification is based on the building's plan, which is similar to Old St Peter's in Rome, and the discovery of a "baptismal font" (a square foundation of brick and an associated pit) near the main entrance.FN343 No significant dating evidence (apart from some third-century pottery sealed beneath the floor) was found during the 1892 and 1961 excavations, though the plan suggests a late fourth-century erection and some later reconstruction.FN344 Only a few Christian objects have been found at Silchester, and none in direct association with the basilica. The Christian community, such as it was, must have been small, though the proximity of the church to the Forum suggests that they were not without influence.
If we look at the material evidence for the fifth and sixth centuries in Silchester, apart from the Roman structures, we see a noticeably "Celtic" element asserting itself. In addition to Roman metalwork of late fourth- or early fifth-century date, there is a relative abundance of evidence of pins and penannular brooches whose affinities are Irish and Scottish. Along with this evidence there was found, in a Roman well, a tombstone inscribed with Ogom characters commemorating one EBICATOS in Irish text.FN345 This figure has been seen as an Irish pilgrim or mercenary, and his tombstone has been assigned various dates from c.450 to 700.FN346 It is by far the most easterly find of an Ogom inscription in Britain, and contrasts with the early Saxon material found at nearby towns like Winchester and Dorchester-on-Thames. The few Saxon finds from Silchester belong to the seventh century and later.FN347
Fitting into the notion that Silchester was a "Saxon-free zone" during the fifth and sixth centuries is a series of dykes which surround the town, the most substantial of the earthworks known as Grim's Bank. It was first proposed that Grim's Bank was constructed after the battle of Badon Hill (c.500) as a boundary between Briton and Saxon lands. This view has now been altered a bit, some now preferring a date of c.450 and seeing the dykes as the boundary of a British kingdom or sub-Roman civitas of sorts centered around Silchester.FN348 This "civitas" likely survived as a center of British power up to the seventh century, when there begins to appear an abundance of Saxon finds in the area. There are, it should be noted, no signs of widespread destruction at Calleva itself.FN349 Silchester's transition from British to Saxon control appears to have been both late and non-traumatic.

WALL (Letocetum, Cair Luitcoyt) Possible

Description:
Small fortified town
Dating Evidence:
Coin of Gratian (AD 381)
Sources:

Excavated remains of the Roman settlement at Wall, Staffordshire.
Fig.18 Excavated remains of the Roman settlement at Wall, Staffordshire.

The small fortified town at Wall, in Staffordshire, is one of five situated along Watling Street forming what was likely a chain of posting stations along the Welsh frontier.FN350 Coinage from stray finds and excavations runs down to the end of Roman occupation, and a single bronze bowl bearing a Chi-Rho monogram (which contained a now-lost Roman coin hoard) suggests Christian activity in the fourth century.FN351 Although no fifth-century artifacts have been found at Wall, there is some literary evidence for sub-Roman occupation. Gildas mentions that there were twenty-eight cities in sub-Roman Britain without listing them; Nennius does list them, and includes Wall (Cair Luitcoyt) among the likes of London and Dumbarton.FN352 Nennius (or the original compiler), thought to have been writing in Wales in the ninth century, is probably listing ancient settlements thought to have been important or whose names were still known in his day.FN353 This is verified by a mention of a raid on Wall (Caer Luydcoed) in an early Welsh poem called Marwnad Cynddylan ("The Lament of Cynddylan").FN354 Shown to date from the seventh century, the poem describes a raid in which neither the bishop nor "the book-holding monks" were spared, suggesting the presence of an organized Christian community in Wall at that date.FN355

WORCESTER Probable

Description:
Small town
Dating Evidence:
Fourth-century pottery
Radiocarbon dates (AD 536 and AD 585)
Sources:

Not much is know about the Roman small town of Worcester. The only Roman structure identified at Worcester is a circular building thought to be a temple or shrine, while traces of timber-framed buildings have been excavated in nearby Sidbury. The only traces of the town's fortifications are northern and eastern sections of a ditch which originially formed a circuit. It seems likely that some form of these defenses must have been standing when the Saxons arrived for them to have named their settlement Weogornceaster, "Roman walled town of the people called Weogora."FN356
Worcester has produced some fourth-century coins and pottery and unbroken glass vessels. Under the refectory of the Norman cathedral lay two burials probably belonging to the sub-Roman period.FN357 Grave one contained a skeleton of a man (age 25-30), fragments of very fine spun gold (around the skeleton's neck), a few sherds of Roman pottery, and a single post-hole was also identified. The bones yielded (uncalibrated) radiocarbon dates of AD 536 (429-643) and AD 585 (483-687). The gold thread was woven into a brocade, probably the border of a cloth garment, perhaps a priest's hood or collar. Bassett has shown (through charter evidence) that St Helen's parish church also originated as a Roman or British church before it became the property of Hwiccan rulers and, subsequently, an Anglo-Saxon see (c.680).FN358 Hwiccan conversions before (and possibly leading to) the creation of the see would then have been the work of British Christians in and around Worcester.

WROXETER (Viroconium Cornoviorum) Definite

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
Six plumbatae weapons (late fourth century)
Two coins of the House of Valentinian
Two Theodosian coins of c.388-92
One coin ?) of c.395-402
One bronze coin of Valentinian III (c.430-35)
Imported Gaza amphoras (Bvi)
Inscribed memorial stone (late fifth century)
Radiocarbon-dated skeleton (AD 610±50)
Sources:

Remains of the "Old Work" (baths basilica) at Wroxeter,site of a sub-Roman timber complex.
Fig.19 Remains of the "Old Work" (baths basilica) at Wroxeter, site of a sub-Roman timber complex.

Wroxeter is the Roman site that has yielded the most archaeological evidence for occupation and activity during the sub-Roman period. Philip Barker's meticulous excavations have revealed, in detail, the phases of repair and reconstruction which made Wroxeter a thriving city in the fifth century while its fellow cities were in sharp decline.
After the Roman Conquest, the Cornovii seem to have given up their local hillfort, the Wrekin, and moved in or near the town growing around the former legionary base at Wroxeter. It was not until after Hadrian's visit to Britain that funds were sufficient to build a forum and basilica, but slowly Wroxeter grew into a prosperous civitas capital. Though Wroxeter no longer quartered a legion, the Cornovii continued to raise a militia on their own (some of whom were absorbed into the regular army as Coh. I Cornoviorum) showing an ability to protect themselves and their town.FN359
Decline appears to have set in at the beginning of the fourth century, when the forum was destroyed and the main baths went out of use (though the frigidarium quite possibly continued to be used).FN360 The forum was still used as an open market, but civil activity gradually moved to the basilica in the baths complex. This building had been refloored in the late third century, repaired, then refloored three more times up to 375.FN361 At this point it ceased to have a public function, and instead was turned into an industrial complex with ramshackle buildings, pits, and a furnace constructed in the interior. Again the floor showed wear, and associated coins date this activity to c.388-92.
This complex did not last long, however, for it too seems to have been cleared by about 402. At this time the basilica's roof and clerestorey were carefully removed, along with all interior walls and columns, leaving an empty shell. The pits in the floor were filled and some of the tile was used to make a path, presumably to give pedestrians safe passageway through the area.FN362 This phase appears to have lasted only a short while after the coin series ends.FN363
For most cities of Roman Britain, this would have been the last evidence of the final chapter of occupation. But at Wroxeter, remarkably, we have evidence that construction resumed in this period, in not one but two subsequent phases. The middle of the fifth century witnessed a major redevelopment on this site, most accurately described by the excavators themselves:

Much of the north wall of the basilica was demolished and dug out in places to well below floor level, and tons of rubble were laid down as building platforms. . . . It formed the foundation for a large timber-framed two-storied winged house, perhaps with towers, a verandah and central portico. . . . The building covered about half of the nave and stretched [to about125 feet long and 52 feet wide]. . . . On its western side, a long thin mortar and rubble platform marked a second building, [extending about 80 feet], which appears to have been something like a loggia solid-walled on the north side and columned on the south. To the east . . . a substantial smaller building was put up against the eastern wall of the basilica. Its structure was most unusual for this phase in that it was built of mortared stone. . . . On the western side [of the former south aisle], five regular platforms of rubble 8m x 2.5m . . . carried buildings leaning against the south wall of the basilica . . . but the rest of the aisle was clear of any buildings leaving the entrance to the frigidarium accessible. . . . One possible use [of the frigidarium] might have been as a small church or chapel or, since some charred grain was found in this room . . . it may have been used as a granary. . . .
On the western portico, a series of buildings was constructed around the main doorway. . . . Each of these buildings was reconstructed several times during the lifetime of [the timber hall]. A further building was constructed at the junction of the west and north porticos.
The east-west street now saw some remarkable, if not unique, modifications. . . . Both ends of this 'gravel street' were revetted and had ramps or steps to provide pedestrian access. . . . North of the gravel street, the southern frontage . . . was covered by a range of timber buildings which seem to have been either shops or residences. Some were placed long side onto the street, others had impressive porticoed facades. Nearly all were rebuilt at least once. . . . FN364

These impressive structures have been described as "the last classically inspired buildings in Britain" until the eighteenth century.FN365 But their interpretation is difficult. Though the complex has "the hallmarks of Roman public works, only constructed with timber,"FN366 the excavators see it more as a villa than a public building, perhaps the residence of a tyrannus like Vortigern.FN367 "Thus we have [at Wroxeter] a powerful character," agrees Webster, "building himself a kind of country mansion in the middle of the city, surrounded with small buildings, which are either stables or . . . houses for his retainers."FN368 Philip Dixon, however, sees part of the complex as incorporating "a covered street, similar to a shopping mall."FN369
After an unknown period of use, these elaborate structures were deliberately dismantled and removed and two smaller buildings were constructed at the western end of the basilica. The excavators have suggested 550 for this construction, though no strictly datable materials were found.FN370 Finally, an inhumation burial was dug into the now-abandoned area just south of one of the buildings. Radiocarbon dating of the remains has yielded a date of 610±60.FN371
Associated coinage gives a terminus post quem of c.375-402 for the early phases of construction, while the radiocarbon determinations give a date of around 600 for the possible abandonment of the site.FN372 Can we be more precise about the dating of the extensive rebuilding in the middle phase? A single find of imported pottery, an amphora (probably carrying wine) from Gaza, links Wroxeter with similar finds at London and Cadbury-Congresbury, but a late fifth- or early sixth-century date is the only one yet being offered.FN373 Most intriguing of all is the memorial stone, whose inscription commemorates an Irishman named Cunorix, found just outside the Wroxeter defenses.FN374 Kenneth Jackson dated the inscription to the late fifth century, and many have seen this Cunorix as an Irish mercenery hired to protect the city.FN375

The North

ANCASTER Possible

Description:
Roman fort and vicus
Dating Evidence:
Late Roman pottery
40 "Anglo-Saxon" cremation urns (c.450)
Sources:

Site of the late Roman cemetery at Ancaster.
Fig.20 Site of the late Roman cemetery at Ancaster.

A vicus or small town developed alongside the Roman fort at Ancaster, but the character of that settlement is not clear. Outside of the defenses, to the west, excavators uncovered a late Roman cemetery containing over 300 inhumations. Most were stone-lined graves or wooden coffins aligned east-west, and few contained associated grave-goods, leading some to speculate that this was a Christian cemetery.FN376 Coins found in one grave date to the 360s, but it is possible that the burials continue into the fifth century.FN377 Though no artifacts of this period identified as "Anglo-Saxon" have been found within the town, a cemetery to the south-east has yielded 40 cremation urns, common in pagan Saxon cemeteries.FN378

ARDWALL ISLE Possible

Description:
Early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Cross-incised slabs
Source

Excavations at Ardwall Isle, off the Kircudbright coast, have revealed significant evidence of an early medieval Christian community. Thomas has assigned the early medieval activity to three phases.FN379 Phase I, which is thought to have begun in the late fifth century, describes an unenclosed cemetery with inhumations surrounding a small rock-cut hollow (identified by Thomas as the bottom of a "slab-shrine"). During Phase II, perhaps in the seventh century, this cemetery was succeeded by another, whose graves were aligned on the axis of a "corner-post" shrine, with post-holes perhaps representing a timber oratory or chapel. Grave-markers accompanying the Phase II burials included slabs with incised crosses and what appears to be a portable stone altar.FN380 Phase III saw further aligned burials and a stone chapel and hut. Thomas interprets much of this evidence as a sign of increasing Irish influence in the area.FN381

BINCHESTER (Vinovia/Vinovium) Possible

Description:
Roman fort and vicus
Dating Evidence:
Crambeck Ware
Sources:

At Binchester, a fort just south of Hadrian's Wall, occupation continued after the introduction of the latest coins (of Magnentius, 350-53) and of pottery from the Crambeck kilns (conventionally dated post-370).FN382 The praetorium had an undisturbed rubbish deposit in its yard, suggesting that it decayed naturally and was possibly in use in the fifth century.FN383 But there was a change in the character of occupation during this period, as military buildings were put to non-military purposes. By the sixth century, "Anglo-Saxon" burials and artifacts begin to appear.FN384

BUSTON/BUISTON Possible

Description:
Crannog
Dating Evidence:
Radiocarbon samples (370±50 AD and 520±50 AD)
Source:

This native dwelling showed signs of occupation in both the Roman and early medieval periods, with several alterations spanning that time. Radiocarbon samples taken from timber stakes yielded dates of 370±50 AD and 520±50 AD.FN385 Decorated wooden objects were preserved in a slumped hollow between the fifth-century house and its seventh-century framework.

CARLISLE (Luguvalium) Probable

Description:
Civitas capital
Dating Evidence:
A solidus of Valentinian II (c.388-92)
A coin of Arcadius
Sources: Carlisle was elevated to the status of civitas capital rather late, perhaps by Caracalla in the third century. By the fourth century, Carlisle was part of the defense system of Hadrian's Wall, possibly even its headquarters.FN386 Although excavation has not been extensive here, Carlisle does show some signs of sub-Roman occupation. Excavation at Blackfriars Street revealed two Roman masonry buildings that were reconstructed in timber and occupied into the early fifth century.FN387 After a time these were abandoned and replaced by one "large hall-like building . . . constructed on a completely different alignment, which even ignored the Roman street lines."FN388 At Scotch Street, excavators uncovered a large townhouse, complete with under-floor heating, that was constructed in the last quarter of the fourth century.FN389 Though the hypocaust went out of use by the beginning of the fifth century,FN390 the building showed signs of continued use and wear.FN391 There is slim evidence of sixth-century occupation, however, despite the fact that Carlisle has long been thought to have been the administrative center of the British kingdom of Rheged.FN392

Christianity may provide the evidence bridging the gap between the Roman and sub-Roman communities in Carlisle. Evidence: of an early Christian community consists only of a tombstone and a gold ring with an incised palm branch; but Thomas has argued that, as a civitas capital, Carlisle must have also been a bishopric, and perhaps the bishopric of the British saints Ninian and Patrick.FN393 When St Cuthbert visited Carlisle in the seventh century, he was greeted by a man described as praepositus civitatis, and was able to walk along the town walls and see a working fountain (implying that there was still a functioning aqueduct in the city).FN394 Burnham and Wacher point out that these are strong signs of continuity: "In this way the Church, as in many other parts of the western empire, would have formed the bridge by which a moderately civilized Romano-British community was maintained and eventually transformed into an English one."FN395

CATTERICK (Cataractonium, Catraeth) Probable

Description:
Roman fort and vicus; possible battle site
Dating Evidence:
Two late Roman military buckles and a buckle-plate
"Anglo-Saxon" pottery (late fifth or early sixth century)
Sources:

The vicus which grew up inside the Roman fortress at Catterick shows strong signs of continued occupation in the fifth century. One building was altered in the last decades of the fourth century, when an apse was added to its west end. "This apsidal building remained in use long enough for occupation material to collect on its floors," write Burnham and Wacher, "after which it fell into decay, with soil accumulating around its walls and over its floor."FN396 Some time later a timber-framed house was built on top of the earlier stone building, its walls on a different alignment, which must (on stratigraphic grounds) be attributed to the fifth century. Other timber structures share similar structural features and would appear to be of the same phase.FN397
It would appear that a substantial Romano-British settlement still existed at Catterick," write Burnham and Wacher, "sheltered by its massive walls, at least in the first part of the century...."FN398 But can we extend this "Romano-British" occupation to the late sixth century and the Battle of Catraeth? The poems of Taliesin seem to equate Catterick with Catraeth, the seat of King Urien of Rheged and the destination of the warriors in the Gododdin of Aneirin.FN399 Alcock has questioned this identification, pointing out the early Saxon material (a Grubenhaus, pottery, brooches, and assorted military items) found in and around the vicus, which has produced no identifiable "British" items of the sixth and later centuries.FN400 While both Alcock and Wacher agree that Catterick is most likely the site of the Battle of Catraeth, it is less clear when this settlement finally came into Anglian hands.

DOON HILL Possible

Description:
Palisaded enclosure
Sources:

Doon Hill is the site of the only completely excavated plan of a northern British Hall. Within a polygonal palisaded enclosure lies Hall A, a massive rectangular timber building (70ft x 32ft) with slightly tapering end bays, two central doors, and the lateral division of a central hall with private apartments at each end.FN401 It parallels both the large hall at South Cadbury and another northern British hall at Balbridie.FN402 "Doon Hill A was certainly an impressive building," writes Alcock, "and taking account of the surrounding palisade, we should see it, in British terms, as a princely neuadd [hall] set within the appropriate llys [court]."FN403
"Doon Hill might be representative of an archetypal British form," adds Hope-Taylor, "from which 'Yeavering-style' building could directly have been developed, . . . a product of the sixth or possibly the fifth century AD."FN404 But there seems to be a bit of confusion concerning the date of Doon Hill Hall A. It was superseded by a second hall (Hall B) which was built according to a different plan, one which more closely resembles the hall at Yeavering. The Yeavering hall has been dated c.640 so Doon Hill Hall A must have been built prior to this time, before the Angles reached Din Eidyn (Edinburgh) in 638.FN405 It appears that Doon Hill represents, like Yeavering, a British stronghold taken over by Anglian expansion in the seventh century.FN406

DUMBARTON ROCK (Alt Clut/Alcluith) Definite

Description:
Hillfort
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (Bi, Bii, and E ware)
Glass and metalwork (fifth/sixth century)
Radiocarbon dates (sixth century?)
Sources:

Castle Rock, Dumbarton--Alt Clut in the British tongue--lies on the north shore of the River Clyde in the heart of the British kingdom of Strathclyde. Bede calls it both urbs and civitas Brettonum munitissima, and Adomnan insists that King Roderc of Strathclyde "ruled on Clyde Rock."FN407 With its twin summits and picturesque castle, there has been much speculation about this craggy citadel.
Leslie Alcock's excavations at Dumbarton in 1974 and 1975 revealed no coherent defensive plan, but an area on the eastern spur revealed exciting evidence of sub-Roman occupation. There were the remains of "a dry-stone terrace or fighting platform, laced and revetted with timber beams."FN408 Radiocarbon estimates from the oak timbers of the terrace suggest either that it had been built in the sixth century and repaired in the seventh, or that it was a work entirely of the seventh century.FN409 Like the ramparts at the Mote of Mark, this structure too was destroyed by fire, probably as a result of a Viking siege in the ninth century..FN410
The artifactual evidence from Dumbarton, however, points to a fifth- and sixth-century date for the occupation. Finds include sherds of amphoras from the eastern Aegean and south-west Asia Minor (probably containing wine), Gaulish kitchenware, Merovingian glass, and jewelry-making debris.FN411 "This [evidence] points clearly to Alt Clut as one of the dynastic centres of Strathclyde by the time of Rhydderch [Roderc] if not earlier," writes Alcock. "We must think of [Bede's] civitas . . . in an organizational sense, as an administrative and social centre."FN412

HADRIAN'S WALL Probable

Description:
Defensive wall with associated forts and "milecastles"
Dating Evidence:
Late fourth century solidi (Valentinian I to Maximus)
Two coins of Arcadius (c.395-408)
One coin of Honorius
Gold and glass earring (late fourth century)
Huntcliff Ware (late fourth century)
Crambeck Ware (fifth century)
"British" metalwork (fifth century)
"Anglo-Saxon" pottery (fifth century)
"Anglo-Saxon" metalwork and glass (sixth century)
"Anglo-Saxon" spearheads
"Anglo-Saxon" brooches (fifth/sixth century)
"Anglian" pin and brooch (eighth century)
Sources:

The notion that the forts along Hadrian's Wall were abandoned following the troop withdrawals of Magnus Maximus and Constantine III was accepted for a long time. Now it is absolutely clear that the Wall was not abandoned, for excavation is revealing plentiful evidence of occupation continuing at the Wall forts after new coinage ceased to arrive in the early fifth century.FN413 In fact, archaeologists have recently discovered new timber structures being built inside some of the forts which indicate occupation into the sixth century and beyond.

CASTLESTEADS (Camboglanna)

Castlesteads is unique among the Wall forts in being built between the Vallum and the Wall. Radford identified a Class-I inscribed stone at Castlesteads which is thought to be of sixth-century date.FN414

BIRDOSWALD (Banna)

Remains of a granary at Birdoswald fort.
Fig.21 Remains of a granary at Birdoswald fort.

Birdoswald fort was built to guard the Irthing bridge crossing. Recent excavations here have revealed the re-use of Roman military buildings as domestic structures in the fifth century, associated with the latest Romano-British pottery found in northern BritainFN415 Two Roman granaries were, in their final stages, reconstructed and used for human occupation. One of these new structures. termed "halls" by the excavators, was a modification of the south granary, while the other was built after the north granary had collapsed, partly overlying the granary, and partly overlying the adjacent Roman road.FN416 Under the floor of the south granary was a fill of earth and rubbish containing Huntcliff and Crambeck Wares (late fourth to fifth centuries), and a hearth found at one end of the this "hall" contained a Roman gold and glass earring (later fourth century). Traces of fifth-century British metalwork were also uncovered, and on the other side of the fort an "Anglian" pin and brooch (eighth century) was found in the 1950s.FN417

CHESTERHOLM (Vindolanda)

Chesterholm is the site of several forts, the first timber fort being part of the old Stanegate frontier system. An earthen bank piled against the fort wall suggests the possibility of post-Roman fortifications. Evidence for internal occupation in the sub-Roman period includes an "Anglo-Saxon" style annular brooch (sixth century?) and a fifth- or sixth-century penannular brooch, both found within the fort.FN418 Outside the fort was found a Class-I inscribed tombstone (dated late fifth or early sixth century) which commemorates the death of one "Brigomaglos."FN419 Thus, at Chesterholm we have a curious mixture of Romano-British and Germanic elements within the same community, suggesting the possible presence of Germanic merceneries.

HOUSESTEADS (Vercovicium)

Housesteads fort is the best preserved site on Hadrian's Wall. A seemingly prosperous vicus, with numerous shops and temples, grew up to the south and east of the fort. A defensive earthen bank was built after the fort's stone walls, and evidence of internal occupation includes sixth-century "Anglo-Saxon" pottery and metalwork.FN420 It has also been suggested that some of the population of both Housesteads and Chesterholm relocated inside the Iron Age hillfort at Barcombe, which seems to preserve part of the name Vercovicium.FN421

CHESTERS (Cilurnum)

Chesters was a bridgehead fort guarding the point where the Wall crosses the North Tyne river. Post-Roman occupation inside the fort is indicated by an "Anglo-Saxon" annular brooch of the sixth or seventh century.FN422

CORBRIDGE (Corstopitum/Coriosopitum)

The main street at Roman Corbridge.
Fig.22 The main street at Roman Corbridge.

Corbridge is a fort two miles south of the Wall which dates back to the first century. Like Housesteads, a large and prosperous vicus grew up around the stone-walled fortress. The main street of the town received its last resurfacing in the latter half of the fourth century, and a hoard of 48 gold coins found in Corbridge dates to this period.FN423 Other coin finds (nine coins of Arcadius and Honorius) show that the town was occupied at least to the end of the fourth century.FN424 Fifth- and sixth-century finds withinthe fort include "Anglo-Saxon" pottery and brooches.FN425

BENWELL (Condercum)

Benwell fort was named by its Roman inhabitants "The Place with a Fine View." Sixth-century "Anglo-Saxon" glass and metalwork was found near the fort.FN426

SOUTH SHIELDS (Arbeia)

South Shields fort is the easternmost settlement along the Wall, built to protect supplies entering the mouth of the River Tyne. Around 400, the south-west gate went out of use and a large ditch was dug in front of it.FN427 Subsequent to this, the ditch was filled in and a newapproach road was laid, and the gate--by this time in ruins--was replaced by a new gate passage contructed in timber. Associated finds include a gold solidus of Magnus Maximus, which has been dated to 388,FN428 and an "Anglo-Saxon" spearhead.FN429 Outside the fort was a small inhumation cemetery, possibly fifth- or sixth-century.FN430
Other miscellaneous finds from the Wall include an "Anglo-Saxon" spearhead from CARVORAN (Magnis) and a horde of late Roman coins (including one of Honorius) thrown as a votive offering into Coventina's Well at CARRAWBURGH (Brocolitia).FN431
If, as it appears, the Wall was not completely abandoned when coin payments stopped arriving after 410 what became of the soldiers stationed there? According to Breeze and Dobson, "we must accept that the soldiers of the Wall returned to the soil from which they had sprung"; i.e. back to the British communities into which they had been born or into which they had married.FN432 Some undoubtedly remained as paid protectors of these northern vici, while others would have gravitated toward the new political and military powers of the north: Rheged, Strathclyde, and Manau Gododdin.FN433
Kenneth Dark has recently surveyed the fifth- and sixth-century evidence from the Wall and has developed an interesting scenario. The timber halls, inscribed tombstones, and post-Roman defenses are seen as secular high-status British re-use of the Wall forts, perhaps as a continuation or revival of the command of the Dux Britanniarum.FN434 The presence of early Anglo-Saxon weapons within these Romano-British settlements is interpreted as a sign that the Britons were hiring Germanic mercenaries, as indeed Gildas says they were doing. "We may have, then," writes Dark, "a pattern of probably secular high-status British reuse of a series of Wall-forts, and possibly the installation of Anglo-Saxon merceneries at them, and of the sub-Roman occupation of the nearby Roman-period towns of Corbridge and Carlisle."FN435

LINCOLN (Lindum) Probable

Description:
Colonia
Dating Evidence:
Radiocarbon dating of graves (fifth century)
Imported pottery (Biv)
Sources:

The still-standing North Gate of Roman Lincoln.
Fig.23 The still-standing North Gate of Roman Lincoln.

The Colonia Domitiana Lindensium, or Lindum, succeeded an earlier legionary fortress at Lincoln. Little is known about the streets and buildings of the colonia, which lies beneath the medieval castle and cathedral in the heart of the modern city. Thus, most conclusions about sub-Roman Lincoln have been drawn from what has not been found rather than from what has.
Wacher points out that there are remarkably few zoomorphic buckles and fittings of the late Roman army in all of Lincolnshire, and only one in Lincoln itself.FN436 There are no early Anglo-Saxon settlements attested in or near Lindum (the closest is some two miles north of the modern city limit), while a sixth-century king of Lindsey has an unmistakably British name Caedbaed.FN437 When an Anglian settlement finally does appear at Lincoln in the late seventh century, Bede tells us that the ruler in the area was a praefectus Lindocolinae civitatis, giving the British form (Lindocolina) of the city's name.FN438
Excavations at Lincoln have revealed some positive evidence for survival of occupation into the sub-Roman period. Street surfaces within the city were repaired in the fifth century, and there have been stray finds of imported Mediterranean pottery and a pin of "Celtic" design which could prolong occupation into the sixth century or later.FN439 Evidence: of a possible Christian community at Lincoln comes from the courtyard area at the forum. There, beneath the graveyard of a seventh-century Anglian church, lay other burials which have yielded radiocarbon dates centering in the fifth century.FN440 It has been suggested that a timber church, destroyed by the construction of the Anglian stone church, was built on this site c.400 with a sub-Roman cemetery laying close to its walls.FN441

MOTE OF MARK Definite

Description:
Hillfort with metalworking industry
Dating Evidence:
Imported pottery (D and E ware)
Imported "Germanic" glass (fifth/sixth century)
Interlace-decorated molds (sixth century?)
"British" penannular brooches and pins (sixth century)
Radiocarbon estimates (indeterminate)
Sources:

The Mote of Mark is set on a craggy hillock rising above a side estuary of the Solway Firth. Its summit is enclosed by a timber-reinforced stone wall, which was clearly destroyed by fire at some point in the site's history. The enclosed area is approximately 75m x 35m, but much of it is covered with rocky outcrops. Excavations in 1913, 1973, and 1979 uncovered an enormous amount of jewelry and metalworking debris, including what may be the first instance of Celtic interlace.FN442
There has been much debate concerning the nature and date of this fort. At first, excavators thought that they had uncovered an Iron Age hillfort reoccupied in the eighth century. The subsequent finds of imported Gaulish pottery and "Germanic" glass indicate occupation in the fifth and sixth centuries, while radiocarbon samples from the rampart show that it too was a post-Roman construction.FN443 There is no evidence of Iron Age occupation at the Mote.
More accurate dating thus depends upon the stylistic evidence of the jewelry along with the imported pottery. Laing has argued that the brooches and pins as well as the interlace-decorated molds are purely "British" in style and are contemporary with the pottery, giving a sixth-century date to the industrial activity at the Mote.FN444 His opponents argue that the interlace is zoomorphic and belongs to a later, seventh-century Anglian phase.FN445 Alcock has pointed out that the fortification of hilltops was quite unknown in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, and thus the ramparts at the Mote of Mark must pre-date Anglian settlement.FN446 He suggests that the site was a British industrial foundation of the sixth century, whose jewelry industry was taken over by the Angles in the seventh.FN447 Laing, on the other hand, dates the initial British occupation to the fifth century, with a defensive rampart built in the sixth, and believes that the site was abandoned when the Angles arrived in the seventh.FN448
There is also much debate on how to classify the site. The defensive rampart would suggest that the Mote of Mark is one of the many fortified hilltop settlements which appear throughout the "Celtic fringe" in the sub-Roman period. Alcock, who has excavated several of these, sees the Mote as "a princely llys [court] with an attendant jeweller."FN449 But the profusion of jewelry-making debris suggests that the Mote could have been a purely industrial site, with its own defenses, which continued functioning as such after its ramparts were destroyed by fire and Angles controlled the territory.FN450 "They took over the industrial activities of the Mote," writes Alcock, "and no doubt its British craftsmen as well, and exploited them vigorously for the production of elaborate jewelry in an early Anglo-Celtic style." FN451

RAVENGLASS (Glannoventa) Possible

Description:
Roman fort and vicus
Dating Evidence:
Late fourth-century pottery
One solidus of Theodosius (379-395)
Sources:

The Roman fort of Ravenglass has yielded an unusually large quantity of late fourth-century pottery, "probably several hundred vessels."FN452 Pottery and coinage bring the occupation at Ravenglass most likely to the early fifth century, whence it may have fitted into a "localized system of defense."FN453 Ravenglass has also been suggested as a candidate for the hometown of St Patrick, Glannoventa possibly being corrupted as Banna Venta.FN454

WHITHORN (Candida Casa) Definite

Description:
Early Christian site
Dating Evidence:
Inscribed memorial stones (fifth and sixth centuries)
Imported Mediterranean amphoras (c.470-550)
Sources:

Excavations of the sub-Roman community near the medieval Priory at Whithorn.
Fig.24 Excavations of the sub-Roman community near the medieval Priory at Whithorn.

Bede tells us that the first Christian missionary in Scotland was a bishop named Ninian, a Briton who had studied in Rome. He founded a church in southern Scotland, at a place the English call Hwit-aern, and named it Candida Casa in honor of St Martin of Tours. Bede, furthermore, describes this church as made of stone rather than wood, "in a manner to which the Britons were not accustomed."FN455
Although the historicity of St Ninian's mission has been in question for some time, recently archaeology has thrown new light upon the very real early Christian community at Whithorn. Peter Hill's extensive excavations have uncovered both an early church and a later monastery which pre-date the Viking settlement at Whithorn. Phase 1/A (late fifth century) is dated by the presence of imported pottery and is characterized by small buildings. At one structure, isolated on the crown of a hill, diggers found the residue of lime which had been imported for white-washing--as close as archaeology will ever get to Ninian's "shining house" (candida casa)."FN456 Hill elaborates on these features:

The buildings [of Phase 1] were consistently small and were probably rectilinear with bowed sides and straight end walls. The curving ditches may reflect overhanging eaves. No substantial timbers were used and the walls and roof were probably constructed as a single entity of woven wattle.FN457

Phase 1/B (late fifth to mid sixth century) extended to the last of the Mediterranean imports and saw the growth of the settlement, including a possibly monastic garden.FN458 Phase 1/C (c.550-700) included buildings which were part of a secular settlement which grew up on the fringes of the ecclesiastical site; they yielded broken "wine glasses."FN459
Phase 1 ended with a possible disaster (a fire) and ceased contact with the outside world.FN460 The period which followed, Phase 2 (late sixth century), saw the foundation of a cemetery of lintel graves closely linked with a circular shrine.FN461 This has been identified as a ?monastic oratory, and may have been associated with a small stone chapel.FN462
According to Hill, "The cumulative evidence of exotic technologies" uncovered at Whithorn--which includes lime-washing, mouldboard ploughs, and a mechanical mill"--suggests settlers with skills acquired within the Roman empire."FN463 Charles Thomas, who has also excavated in the area, agrees that there must have been Romanized communities along the Galloway coast, perhaps with a sizeable enough Christian element in the late fourth century to warrant the provision of a bishop (from Carlisle?) such as Ninian.FN464 Further evidence that such communities did exist is the impressive number of inscribed memorial stones from Galloway and Dumfrieshire. One, from Whithorn, was erected by a Christian family (it bore the formula Te Dominum Laudamus) to commemorate one Latinus.FN465 Two stones from nearby Kirkmadrine (across Luce Bay) bear Chi-Rho crosses and have been dated c.500 One of these commemorates Viventius and Mavorius as sancti et praecipui sacerdotes, indisputable evidence of two priests bearing Latinized names in remote Galloway.FN466

YEAVERING (Gefrin) Possible

Description:
Palisaded enclosure
Dating Evidence:
"Anglo-Saxon" pottery
Frankish buckle (sixth or seventh century)
Copy of a Merovingian gold tirens (c.630-50)
Sources:

Brian Hope-Taylor's excavations at Yeavering revealed a remarkable, though perhaps not unique, settlement type: a northern British fortress taken over by Angles which becomes an Anglian villa regia. The earliest structures at Yeavering--small timber and wattle buildings--are identified as "British" type, of fifth- or sixth-century date. Also thought to be British in origin is the double-palisaded Great Enclosure, which later became an elaborate structure associated with the Anglian Great Hall. Its initial phase consisted of two widely spaced parallel fences attached by two bulbous terminals, each enclosing a rectangular building which may have served as a look-out tower or guard post.FN467 Both Hope-Taylor and Alcock believe that this enclosure was originally a place for public gatherings and part of a pre-Anglian royal center of the northern Britons, probably in the kingdom of the Gododdin.FN468 "Yeavering's archaeological record clearly testifies to the meeting of two major cultural groups," writes the excavator, "each with diverse strains of influence already within it, at a time probably nearer 550 than 600; and to the vigorous hybrid culture which that produced."FN469
Other structures at Yeavering are more difficult to place, ethnically and chronologically. The enigmatic Building E was identified by the excavator as "unmistakably" a wooden theatre, focused on a stage (which may have carried a throne!) and a (carved?) ceremonial pole.FN470 "Yeavering-style building," writes Hope-Taylor, "may well have been a response to the special political needs and pretensions of a ruling class . . . [who] would be found not to have been without various enrichments and a certain crude pomp."FN471 Datable objects from Yeavering include a silver-inlaid iron buckle of Frankish origin, which likely dates between c.570-80 and c.630-40, and a gold-washed copper alloy copy of a Merovingian gold tirens, minted c.630-50.FN472

YORK (Eboracum) Possible


Description:
Colonia
Sources:

A late Roman multangular tower at York.
Fig.25 A late Roman multangular tower at York.

There is no doubt that York enjoyed a special status among Romano-British cities in the third and fourth centuries. This former legionary fortress was used as headquarters for the campaigning emperors Septimius Severus and Constantius Chlorus, both of whom died in the city. York also saw the elevation of Constantine I, and was rewarded with impressive walls and fortifications.
Excavations in York have so far concentrated on the military and defenses, and we know little about its public and domestic buildings. The best evidence for fifth-century occupation comes from the headquarters building (principia) and the legionary bath-house.FN473 The principia, in fact, remained intact and in use until it was destroyed by fire in the early seventh century or later.FN474 A rise in the water level in the late fourth century caused severe flooding in York, resulting in the destruction of much of the wharves and harbor facilities.FN475 York probably did not survive as a "center of population," writes Campbell, but it did survive as a "center of authority."FN476 In 601 Pope Gregory the Great instructed Augustine to send a bishop to York who would become the metropolitan of "that city and province."FN477 When the bishop Paulinus arrived in York in c.625 it was part of the Anglian kingdom of Edwin of Northumbria, who is said to "have brought under his sway all the territories inhabited by the Britons."FN478


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