Silchester

An important Roman-British town which was a node on the Roman road system in Britain, located in Hampshire, England. All that stands now is the impressive wall of the 1st century AD. Within it were a forum, inn, church, four temples, two baths, grid street plan, shops, and houses. An amphitheater existed outside the wall. Most of the antiquities recovered from the site are in the Reading Museum; the local Calleva Museum (1957) illustrates the life of the Roman town.

[Roman Calleva Atrebatumj. A Romano-British town of some 43 hectares in Hampshire, southern England, remarkable for the detailed information of its complete street plan. Originally a Celtic tribal centre, capital of the Atrebates, the town prospered from the later 1st century ad onwards, and was still in occupation well into the 5th century ad. The site lies some 13 km to the southwest of Reading, and in open countryside. The perimeter walls enclose an irregular octagonal plan. The internal area was totally excavated in the late 19th century, and in parts since, but a general policy of backfilling has left little immediately discernible. The evidence discovered showed a grid-plan of streets oriented north-south, with a remarkably low density of building — although it has been suggested that the early excavations may have missed some timber structures. Some sections of the town seem to have operated as urban farms, but there was also a range of shops and light industrial activities, such as pottery and metalworking. Housing, usually on a foundation of flint masonry, shows variety of internal size, and probably featured timber-frame construction with clay infill, glazed windows and tiled roof. There are several Romano-Celtic temples, two located in a temenos beneath the present churchyard. An apsidal structure may be a small early (? 4th century) Christian church. An earth amphitheatre may be made out. The gilded bronze eagle from the forum is kept at Stratfield Saye House, home, of the Duke of Wellington, whose estate includes the Silchester site.