Roman Town House | |
---|---|
Location | Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset |
Coordinates | 50°43′03″N2°26′28″W / 50.7174°N 2.441°W |
Area | Durnovaria |
Built | c. 307 AD |
Governing body | Dorset Museum |
Owner | Dorset Council |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Roman House |
Designated | 8 May 1950 [1] |
Reference no. | 1210098 [1] |
Official name | Colliton Park Roman house |
Designated | 18 May 1938 [2] |
Reference no. | 1002721 [2] |
The Roman Town House in Dorchester is a Roman ruin within Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, England. Dorset County Council acquired Colliton Park in 1933 as the site for the construction of County Hall. The Town House was discovered in 1937/38 during an archaeological investigation carried out by the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society prior to the construction of the new building. Plans for County Hall were modified so that the Town House could be retained on site.
The Town House is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building. [2] [1] It is bounded on the north and west sides by North Walk and West Walk which are also scheduled monuments having the remains of the Roman ramparts of the town just below surface level.
Built around 307 AD and extended in 341 AD, the Town House has two principal ranges of rooms. The South Range comprising rooms 1–7 survives in the plan form of flint and stone walls on the grass covered site. The West Range comprising rooms 8–18 was mosaic floored. This range was re-excavated and provided with a steel and glass cover building with a stone tiled roof all perched on the original foundations between 1996 and 1999.
The site is owned by Dorset Council and the grounds are free to visit. Dorset Museum manage events and provide access to the inside of the structure on tours. [3] [4]
Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, 7 miles (11 km) to the south. The civil parish includes the experimental community of Poundbury and the suburb of Fordington.
Dewlish is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, and is situated approximately 7 miles (11 km) north-east of the county town Dorchester. The village is sited in the valley of the small Devil's Brook among the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs; the parish covers about 2,100 acres (850 ha) and extends west to include part of the valley of the small Cheselbourne stream, and east to include a dry valley at Dennet's Bottom. The surrounding area is part of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 284.
Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument in east Dorset, England. It was in the territory of the Durotriges. In the Roman era a temple was located immediately west of the fort, and there was a Romano-British town known as Vindocladia a short distance to the south-west.
Dorset is a rural county in south west England. Its archaeology documents much of the history of southern England.
Durnovaria is a suggested spelling for the Latin form of the name of the Roman town of Dorchester in the modern English county of Dorset, amended from the actually observed Durnonovaria. Upon the assumption that the name was originally Brythonic, it is suggested that the first element in the name, *durno- may mean "fist" like and the second may be related to Old Irish fáir ~ fóir denoting a confined area or den. A simpler amendment would lead to *Duronovaria, making this place one of up to 18 ancient British names that contain Duro- and mostly occur at river crossings, while -novaria has two possible ancient parallels in Britain associated with river junctions. That analysis would perfectly fit the geographical situation of Dorchester.
Frampton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in the Frome valley among chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The village's name is a derivation from "Frome Town".
Poundbury Hill is the site of a scheduled Prehistoric and Roman archaeological remains and includes evidence of a Neolithic settlement, a substantial Bronze Age occupation site and an Iron Age hillfort. There are also late Iron Age burials and a section of Roman aqueduct. On the eastern side is an earlier Romano-British farmstead; and an extensive later cemetery, belonging to the Roman town Durnovaria.
Charterhouse, also known as Charterhouse-on-Mendip, is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Priddy, in the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The area between Charterhouse and Cheddar Gorge including Velvet Bottom and Ubley Warren is covered by the Cheddar Complex Site of Special Scientific Interest. In 1931 the parish had a population of 68.
There are 37 scheduled monuments in Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building that has been given protection against unauthorised change by being placed on a list by the Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport; Historic England recommends sites for scheduling to the Secretary of State. Scheduled monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and the National Heritage Act 1983. There are nearly 20,000 entries on the schedule, which is maintained by Historic England as part of the National Heritage List for England; more than one site can be included in a single entry. While a scheduled monument can also be recognised as a listed building, Historic England's aim is to set the most appropriate form of protection in place for the building or site. Applications to deschedule a site are administered Historic England, who will carry out an assessment and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State.
North Leigh Roman Villa was a Roman courtyard villa in the Evenlode Valley about 0.5 miles (800 m) north of the hamlet of East End in North Leigh civil parish in Oxfordshire. It is a scheduled monument in the care of English Heritage and is open to the public.
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996, following the abolition of the County of Avon, which had existed since 1974. Part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset occupies an area of 220 square miles (570 km2), two-thirds of which is green belt. It stretches from the outskirts of Bristol, south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border. The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district, but BANES also covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and the Chew Valley. The area has a population of 170,000, about half of whom live in Bath, making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the area.
Taunton Deane was a local government district with borough status in Somerset, England. It merged with West Somerset to form Somerset West and Taunton on 1 April 2019. Its council was based in Taunton. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Municipal Borough of Taunton, Wellington Urban District, Taunton Rural District, and Wellington Rural District. Taunton Deane was granted borough status in 1975, enabling the mayoralty of Taunton to be continued, when other districts did not have mayors. The district was given the name of an alternate form of the Taunton Deane Hundred.
There are over 670 scheduled monuments in the ceremonial county of Somerset in South West England. The county consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset Council. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
The County Hall is a municipal facility at Colliton Park in Dorchester, Dorset, England.
The Town Walks are a series of public walks in Dorchester, Dorset, England, along the former Roman defences of the town.
There are more than 1000 scheduled monuments in the county of Dorset, in South West England. These protected sites date from the Neolithic period and include barrows, stone circles, hill figures, ancient Roman sites, castle ruins, and medieval abbeys. In the United Kingdom, the scheduling of monuments was first initiated to ensure the preservation of "nationally important" archaeological sites or historic buildings. Protection is given to scheduled monuments under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
There are 1274 scheduled monuments in the county of Cumbria, in North West England. These protected sites date from the Neolithic period and include barrows, stone circles, Roman forts, standing stones, 19th century industrial sites, abbeys, and ruined castles. In the United Kingdom, the scheduling of monuments was first initiated to ensure the preservation of "nationally important" archaeological sites or historic buildings. Protection is given to scheduled monuments under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.