Letocetum

Last updated

Letocetum
Letocetum view from St.John the Baptist Church.jpg
View of Letocetum from St. John the Baptist Church
Location Wall, Staffordshire
RegionFlag of England.svg  England
Type mansio and bath house
History
Foundedc. 50 CE
Abandoned4th century
Periods Roman Empire
Cultures Romano-British
Site notes
ConditionRuins
Ownership National Trust
Public accessYes

Letocetum is the ancient remains of a Roman settlement. It was an important military staging post and posting station near the junction of Watling Street, the Roman military road to north Wales, and Icknield (or Ryknild) Street (now the A38). The site is now within the parish of Wall, Staffordshire, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust, under the name Letocetum Roman Baths Site & Museum. The site is in the guardianship of English Heritage as Wall Roman Site.

Contents

The Romans came to Letocetum in 50  CE to establish a fortress during the early years of the invasion of Britain. The land could not support large numbers of soldiers and Letocetum, at an important cross-roads, became a large scale posting station. The settlement developed with successive bath houses and mansiones built to serve the official travellers as well as the growing civilian population. It is known mainly from detailed excavations in 1912–13, which concentrated on the sites of the mansio and bath-house.

The remains visible today are those of the stone bath house and mansio, built in approximately 130 CE after Letocetum ceased to have a military function and became a civilian settlement. The settlement reached its peak during the 2nd and 3rd centuries and at this time occupied 8.1–12 hectares (20–30 acres). At the end of the 3rd century, the town relocated within high defensive walls astride Watling Street. After the Romans left early in the 5th century the settlement went into decline. The modern village of Wall emerged in the land once occupied by Letocetum.

Name

The site is mentioned as Etocetum in the Antonine Itinerary and presumably represented a Latinisation of a Brittonic place name reconstructed as *Lētocaiton ("Grey-wood"; cf. Old Welsh : Luitcoyt  [1] and modern Welsh Lwytgoed ). [2] The name possibly represented the species of tree prominent at the site such as ash and elm. [3] [4] [5] [6] Ford identifies the community as the Cair Luit Coyd [7] ("Fort Greywood") listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains . [8]

History

Native settlement

It is likely that a small native settlement occupied the site before the advent of the Romans, possibly as the main trading station on the boundary between two British tribes, the Corieltauvi in the East Midlands whose later tribal centre was at Ratae Corieltauvorum, and the Cornovii to the west with their original capital Uriconon (which would later give its name to the important Roman British city of Viroconium) at the hill fort on The Wrekin. These tribes offered little resistance to Roman rule. [2]

Military staging post

In about 50 CE, a Roman vexillatio built a large timber fortress on a hilltop (near the site of the current church) at Letocetum. [9] This housed the Legio XIV Gemina during the campaigns of governor Aulus Didius Gallus against the Brigantes. [9] It was a good defensive position, but the poor farmland surrounding the fortress could not support large numbers of soldiers. [10] During the Neronian period this initial fortress was replaced with a smaller one and Letocetum then developed into a large-scale posting station. [11] Most of the troops moved to the fortress at Viroconium during the early administration of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus in about 58 CE. [2]

Posting station

Map showing the central position of Letocetum on the Roman road network. Watling Street route.jpg
Map showing the central position of Letocetum on the Roman road network.

A mansio was built to provide lodging for official couriers travelling on Watling Street. A bath house was also built for the travellers and the growing civilian population. When the first mansio and bath house were completed, workers were needed to provide wood for the bath house, look after animals, and repair vehicles to be used by the official travellers. The civilian population would have provided many of these services. [12] The native settlement grew during the Flavian period onwards to occupy 8.1–12 hectares (20–30 acres). [9] Roman burials with 1st and 2nd century pottery were found along Watling Street in 1927, and more in 1966. In the field between the mansio site and Watling Street, a round depression in the ground may mark the site of a Roman amphitheatre or a circular gyrus for training horses (an example has been excavated at the Lunt Roman Fort). A large earthenware vessel in the likeness of Minerva was found near the modern church, which may therefore be the site of a temple of Minerva. A rectangular crop-mark in the field to the north-west of the bath-house, only visible in dry weather, may be the site of another temple. [2]

When the Legion XIV first settled at Letocetum they would have used existing trackways. [13] A stone-surfaced road was needed to allow reliable movement. Watling Street was given a stone surface past Letocetum in about 70 CE. [13] This date is approximated from two coins found in the centre of Letocetum beneath the first road surfacing. There is no evidence to indicate when Ryknild Street was constructed, but from the layout it is thought that Watling Street was built first. [13] Watling Street stretched from Letocetum to London in one direction and to Wroxeter and Chester in the other. Ryknild Street, 7.3 metres (24 ft) wide where it crossed with Watling Street, connected Letocetum with Cirencester to the south west and Yorkshire to the north east. [13]

Early mansiones and bath houses

The foundations of the last mansio built at the site, and its associated bath-house, were uncovered by archaeologists in 1912–13. [11] The rooms of both the mansio and bath-house were emptied and the stone foundations were exposed. This work left, in some lower stratified levels, traces of the two earlier wooden mansiones. [11]

The hillside had been terraced and the first mansio, whose construction is dated to 54–60 CE, fully occupied one terrace. It was of a sleeper beam construction, the walls were wattle and daub, some were plastered and some were painted with simple linear decoration. It has been assumed the roof was thatch and was consumed when the building was destroyed by fire. The rooms were arranged around a square courtyard approximately 19 by 19 metres (62 ft × 62 ft). [14] Due to the construction of later buildings the known layout of the first mansio is very fragmentary. The date at which the first mansio was destroyed is uncertain, it was probably near the beginning of the 2nd century, as the destruction layers contained Flavian-Trajanic samian-ware, part of a mortarium dating from 70–100 CE and part of a glass bowl which has been dated to the 2nd century. [14]

The evidence for the layout of the second mansio is also very fragmentary. [14] It was a courtyard building constructed with posts set vertically in foundation trenches.

How the town may have looked in the 2nd century Wall Drawing.jpg
How the town may have looked in the 2nd century

The walls were plaster and daub and some rooms were painted in vivid colours. [14] In the courtyard was a large well 2.29 by 2.44 metres (7.5 ft × 8.0 ft) and 6.1 metres (20 ft) deep, cut into the underlying sandstone. [15] The second mansio was deliberately dismantled in about 140–150 CE during construction of the third mansio. [16] The well was filled in at this time and contained a samian sherd dated 125–145 CE. About the same time the second hilltop fort was abandoned and the town ceased to be a military site. One of the last military features at Letocetum was the "punic ditch" associated with this last small fort. The ditch was filled before any secondary silt formed and the filling contained a Trajanic coin dated 98–117 CE and pottery suggesting a Hadrianic or early Antonine date. [16]

The earliest bath-house was discovered during an excavation in 1956. [16] In a construction trench of the very first building was a worn coin of Vespasian dated 71 CE, due to the condition of the coin it is believed that this building was erected around 100 CE. [17] It is thought that this building was built during the military period as the surviving masonry is of high quality with finely dressed stone and a wall some 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) thick. It is thought that the second mansio, the last fort, and the first bath house all ended approximately at the end of the military period on the site. [17]

Civilian development; the third mansio and second bath-house

Site of the 2nd century civilian settlement, which was contemporary with the 3rd Mansio and 3rd Bath House; the site of the civilian settlement ran along Watling Street, which can be seen in the background Letocetum Site of 3rd Civilian Development.jpg
Site of the 2nd century civilian settlement, which was contemporary with the 3rd Mansio and 3rd Bath House; the site of the civilian settlement ran along Watling Street, which can be seen in the background

Letocetum ceased to be used by the military after about 130 CE, probably leaving the town under the authority of the civitas of the Cornovii with its capital at Viroconium Cornoviorum. [18] About this time that a new mansio and bath house were built. [2]

The third and best-understood mansio was built on a stone base about 130 CE. It was at least two storeys high and fronted by a colonnade with a tiled roof, probably supported on wooden columns. In the centre of the colonnade, a large door formed the main entrance to the interior of the building. [2] Through the entrance hall was a colonnaded atrium or courtyard with a plastered floor, the central area probably being open to the sky and perhaps containing a herbaceous garden. Timber posts resting on these foundations around the edges of the colonnade supported a balcony above. [2]

Remains of the 3rd Mansio Letocetum Mansio 1.jpg
Remains of the 3rd Mansio

The entrance hall was flanked on either side by similarly sized rooms probably accessible from the central courtyard. [2] The one on the west contained washing facilities and a gutter leading to a soak-away in the central part of the building, the room to the east may possibly have been a guardroom. On the western side of the courtyard were three small rooms which opened out onto the central colonnade at ground level. [2] The function of these rooms is uncertain, but they were probably used as private accommodation for users of the mansio. The largest room in the mansio lay in the north-east corner, the chamber was heated by a channelled hypocaust system added some time after the building was first completed. [2]

Remains of the 3rd Bath House Letocetum - Wall Roman Site (31340852044).jpg
Remains of the 3rd Bath House

To the west of the mansio lay the public bath-house, separated from it by a cobbled road between 2.4 and 3 metres (7.9 and 9.8 ft) wide. [2] From the street, a paved area led into a colonnade fronting the building on the east and continuing round the north side. Large doors in the centre of the eastern colonnade opened into a large, covered courtyard. [2] This courtyard may have been a basilica; a settlement of this size would be expected to have one, and this is the only candidate on the site. At the far north end of the bath complex was the stoke-room or praefurnium, which contained the wood-fired furnaces of the hypocaust system. [2] This underfloor heating system was present in the tepidarium, the caldarium and the laconicum where the floors were supported on pillars of tiles or pilae. [2] The hot combustion gases from the stoke-room furnaces circulated under the floor between these pillars and were drawn up around the sides of the building through box tiles embedded in the walls, to escape finally through vents in the barrel-vaulted roof. [2]

Late Roman defences; abandoned mansio and bath-house

A golden coin from the time of the Emperor Gratian. The latest coin found at Letocetum was from this period. Gratian Solidus.jpg
A golden coin from the time of the Emperor Gratian. The latest coin found at Letocetum was from this period.

Letocetum lost its public buildings near the end of the 3rd century; the bath-house and mansio were destroyed by fire. [20] Around this time, very solid defences were built which did not include the bath-house or mansio sites. The reason the bath-house and mansio were abandoned can not be determined but the reason was probably economic. [20] Other mansio sites around Britain appear to have been abandoned at this time. This did not imply an end to the posting service at Letocetum, it may have been a less costly reorganisation. [20] The late defences were built in about 300 CE astride Watling Street, approximately 150 metres (490 ft) east of the mansio site. [21] The defences consisted of a stone wall about 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) thick, fronted by three ditches and with a contemporary turf rampart to the rear, the area within the walls was 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres). [21] The northern and western sides were identified and sectioned in 1964 and the foundations of a wall at the south west corner were uncovered. On the western side a section of wall was found still standing 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) high above shallow foundations but below the ploughed soil. The wall is believed to have been built within the period 275–325 CE. [21]

It is thought that the construction of these defences was related to a general uprising of the Welsh tribes, the Ordovices and Silures, that occurred at this time. The revolt was soon quelled, but, to guard against further disruptions, a series of strongholds including Letocetum, Pennocrucium, and Uxacona were established along the length of Watling Street. [2] All 4th century archaeological remains have come from within the defences and none from outside, suggesting that the whole population were within the defences by the 4th century. [22] The latest coin to be found at Letocetum was minted in the time of the Emperor Gratian and dated to 381 CE. [19] Roman administration collapsed at the beginning of the 5th century and nothing has been found at the site that is datable after this time. [23]

Post-Roman abandonment and later re-occupation

The settlement must have been significant for some time; it is listed in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum , and Reno writes "Wall, appearing as Cair Luitcoyt, and undoubtedly correctly ascribed, appears rather incongruously among such major towns and military depots as York, London, Chester, Wroxeter and Caerleon but nevertheless must have been a place of important consequence because of its inclusion as a strategic city." [24] The late defences led to its description as a Caer and a British, possibly Powysian, outpost was established there. [25] We have no knowledge of the period immediately after the Roman departure as no historical or archaeological evidence is present. [25]

Letocetum lost all importance with the development of nearby Lichfield in the 7th century as the seat of a Bishop. [25] When the place again emerged historically it was under a new name, Wall. This name referred to the remains of the late Roman defences, parts of which were still standing in the early 19th century. [25]

Notes

  1. ↑ Patrick Sims-Williams (1990). "2". In Alfred Bammesberger (ed.). Britain 400–600: Language and History. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. p. 260. ISBN   3-533-04271-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Kevan White. "LETOCETVM Roman Forts and Camps. Romano-British Fortified Town". www.Roman-Britain.co.uk.
  3. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 6.
  4. ↑ Lichfield: The place and street names, population and boundaries ', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14: Lichfield. 1990. pp. 37–42.
  5. ↑ "Lichfield". Key to English Place Names. Institute for Name Studies, University of Nottingham. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  6. ↑ Delamarre, Xavier (2012). Noms de lieux celtiques de l'europe ancienne (−500/+500): Dictionnaire. Arles, France: Éditions Errance. p. 175. ISBN   978-2-87772-483-8.
  7. ↑ Nennius (attrib.). Theodor Mommsen (ed.). Historia Brittonum, VI. Composed after AD 830. (in Latin) Hosted at Latin Wikisource.
  8. ↑ Ford, David Nash. "The 28 Cities of Britain Archived 15 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine " at Britannia. 2000.
  9. 1 2 3 Greenslade 1990, p. 283.
  10. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 13.
  11. 1 2 3 Gould 1998, p. 14.
  12. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 23.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Gould 1998, p. 24.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Gould 1998, p. 15.
  15. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 18.
  16. 1 2 3 Gould 1998, p. 19.
  17. 1 2 Gould 1998, p. 21.
  18. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 40.
  19. 1 2 Gould 1998, p. 72.
  20. 1 2 3 Gould 1998, p. 59.
  21. 1 2 3 Gould 1998, p. 61.
  22. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 65.
  23. ↑ Gould 1998, p. 73.
  24. ↑ Reno 1999, p. 172.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Gould 1998, p. 74.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pergamon</span> Ancient Greek city in Anatolia

Pergamon or Pergamum, also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (Πέργαμος), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located 26 kilometres (16 mi) from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus and northwest of the modern city of Bergama, Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornovii (Midlands)</span> Celtic people of the Iron Age and Roman Britain

The Cornovīī were a Celtic people of the Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh counties of Flintshire, Powys and Wrexham. Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hillfort on the Wrekin. Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography names two of their towns: Deva Victrix (Chester) and Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), which became their capital under Roman rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman roads in Britannia</span> Roads in the Province of Britannia, 43–410

Roman roads in Britannia were initially designed for military use, created by the Roman army during the nearly four centuries (AD 43–410) that Britannia was a province of the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norton, Northamptonshire</span> Human settlement in England

Norton is a village in West Northamptonshire. The population including Brokhall and Norton at the 2011 census was 434. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Daventry, 11 miles (18 km) west of Northampton. Junction 16 of the M1 motorway is about 7 miles (11 km) south-east and the nearest railway station is at Long Buckby 3 miles (5 km) to the east. Near the village, on Watling Street, is the Roman settlement of Bannaventa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volubilis</span> Partly excavated Berber city in Morocco

Volubilis is a partly-excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the kingdom may have been at Gilda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avdat</span> Human settlement in Israel

Avdat or Ovdat, and Abdah or Abde, are the modern names of an archaeological site corresponding to the ancient Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine settlement of Oboda or Eboda in the Negev desert in southern Israel. It was inhabited with intermissions between the 3rd century BCE and the mid-7th century CE by Nabataeans, in their time becoming the most important city on the Incense Route after Petra, then by Roman army veterans, and Byzantines, surviving only for a few years into the Early Muslim period. Avdat was a seasonal camping ground for Nabataean caravans travelling along the early Petra–Gaza road in the 3rd – late 2nd century BCE. The city's original name was changed in honor of Nabataean King Obodas I, who, according to tradition, was revered as a deity and was buried there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aventicum</span> Archaeological site in Switzerland

Aventicum was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland. Its remains are beside the modern town of Avenches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conímbriga</span> Former Roman settlement in Portugal

Conímbriga is one of the largest Roman settlements excavated in Portugal, and was classified as a National Monument in 1910. Located in the civil parish of Condeixa-a-Velha e Condeixa-a-Nova, in the municipality of Condeixa-a-Nova, it is situated 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the municipal seat and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Coimbra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richborough Castle</span> Ancient fort in Kent, England

Richborough Castle is a Roman Saxon Shore fort better known as Richborough Roman Fort. It is situated in Richborough near Sandwich, Kent. Substantial remains of the massive fort walls still stand to a height of several metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wall, Staffordshire</span> Human settlement in England

Wall is a small village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, just south of Lichfield. It lies on the site of the Roman settlement of Letocetum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dubris</span>

Dubris, also known as Portus Dubris and Dubrae, was a port in Roman Britain on the site of present-day Dover, Kent, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunetio</span> Ancient walled town in Wiltshire, England

Cunetio was a large walled town in a valley of the River Kennet in modern-day Wiltshire, England. The settlement was occupied from the 2nd century AD by Romano-British people until the post-Roman period, and was abandoned in the early 5th century. Its site is near the village of Mildenhall, about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) east of the market town of Marlborough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambleside Roman Fort</span> Roman fort in Cumbria, United Kingdom

Ambleside Roman Fort is the modern name given to the remains of a fort of the Roman province of Britannia. The ruins have been tentatively identified as those of either Galava or Clanoventa, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD, its ruins are located on the northern shore of Windermere at Waterhead, near Ambleside, in the English county of Cumbria, within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deva Victrix</span> Roman fort built mid 70s AD

Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. The fortress was built by the Legio II Adiutrix in the 70s AD as the Roman army advanced north against the Brigantes, and rebuilt completely over the next few decades by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix. In the early 3rd century the fortress was again rebuilt. The legion probably remained at the fortress until the late 4th or early 5th century, upon which it fell into disuse.

Lactodurum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Towcester, located in the English county of Northamptonshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tall Zira'a</span> Archaeological site in Jordan

The Tall Zira'a is an archaeological tell in Jordan. Surveys and geophysical investigations showed the site's great potential for excavations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinovia</span> Roman fort in County Durham, England

Vinovia or Vinovium was a Roman fort and settlement situated just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the town of Bishop Auckland on the banks of the River Wear in County Durham, England. The fort was the site of a hamlet until the late Middle Ages, but the modern-day village of Binchester is about 2 miles (3 km) to the east, near Spennymoor. The ruins are now known as the Binchester Roman Fort.

Pennocrucium was a Romano-British settlement and military complex located at present day Water Eaton, just south of Penkridge, Staffordshire, with evidence of occupation from the mid-1st century until the 4th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster Roman Fort</span> Roman fort in Lancaster, England

Lancaster Roman Fort, also known as Wery Wall, Galacum or Calunium, is the modern name given to ruined former Roman fort atop Castle Hill in Lancaster in North West England. The first castra was founded c. 80 AD within the Roman province of Britannia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentovaria</span> Roman fort in Alsace, France

Argentovaria, also known as Ödenburg, is the collective term for a late Roman military installation and a civilian settlement in the area of Biesheim in Alsace, France.

References

52°39′25″N1°51′23″W / 52.6569°N 1.8565°W / 52.6569; -1.8565

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.