ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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formulated as east-west strips 125 feet wide and northsouth strips 200 feet wide. Compared with Orange and towns like it, the plans of Silchester and Caistor seem inexplicably fussy in their detail. Why the variations in the widths of the insulae, especially at Silchester? If it is caused by buildings, why does the largest building of all at Silchester, namely the forum, not fill the full width of its 400-foot-wide strip? We may come close to seeing the ghost of a plausible fortress in the street plan of Silchester - but not quite. The town plan embodies north-south strips of the 300-foot width familiar in the other fortresses we have examined. The forum would presumably share the site of the principia, the streets to the west and east being in origin the via praetoria and the via decumana respectively. The principal difficulty is that the gap between the ends of these two streets is not nearly large enough; it is less than 400 feet, whereas about 600 feet would be normal in a full-size fortress. All this is speculation; no doubt Dr Fulford’s excavations will reveal all, if they have not done so already. Finally, and very briefly, back to Colchester. After the revolt the town was rebuilt and the pre-Boudican street system was restored. The occupied area of the colony was enlarged northwards and probably eastwards by extending the existing streets (Fig 58). The date of these alterations is not certain but they were probably contemporary with the construction of the town wall during the first part of the 2nd century. Thus, in its final form, the street system of Roman Colchester was a complex development and still contained important elements of the fortress which was set out shortly after the start of the invasion in AD 43. References 85 Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics of laying out a town
New streets for old : the topography of Roman Lincoln Michael J Jones Roman Lincoln owed its elongated plan largely to topo- three tombstones are known from north of the river. Most graphical factors, with occupation extending particularly were noted during building operations last century, but along Ermine Street to the north and south. Just how more recently (198 1) another cremation turned up on the extensive was the settlement, and how intensive was its South Common and in 1982 four were found in Monson occupation, is still emerging from excavation. Almost 40 Street, a site which had already produced one of the years ago Sir Ian Richmond wrote of the upper colonia, legionary tombstones. It is interesting to note that these ‘the tale of structures. . .is a sorry one. All too many finds were made about 50m east of High Street (the Fosse opportunities have been missed’ (Richmond 1946, 39). Way), and apparently east of another Roman street which Since then much effort and public money have been branches off the Fosse not far to the north. Although the expended on rescue archaeology in the City, principally in earliest street levels could not be investigated, it is possible response to the large-scale redevelopment schemes which that this is Ermine Street (Magilton 1982), which would have mainly affected the lower part of the walled city and thus have crossed the Sincil Dyke on the line of the the riverside in the last twenty years or so. Ironically, medieval Little Bargate (Fig 59). Although this might excavations on those sites have not added a great deal to make better sense in terms of the location of some of the our knowledge of the Roman street system, whereas the early graves, unfortunately no indications of a road are now-abandoned Inner Ring Road Scheme would have visible on South Common and geophysical prospecting is revealed much. desirable. Phase I of the Scheme did go ahead in 1971, occasioning a small excavation on the High Street frontage, which produced for the first time stratified evidence for a pre-Roman settlement (Jones 1981, 87; Jones et al forthcoming). This is perhaps no more than might have been expected, given the known pattern of late Iron Age settlement in Lincolnshire, the Celtic derivation of the place-name, and earlier chance finds. The pottery from the site suggests an origin probably no earlier than the 1st century BC, and one might postulate a settlement of houses scattered along the river frontage on slightly higher areas of ground — for much of the valley was too low-lying and marshy for settlement. Study of the natural ground levels is one of the clues to the location of the earliest occupation (Fig 59). To the west and south-west of the city are large areas of gravel dotted with occasional natural meres. If one assumes a natural origin (and this has yet to be proved), the Brayford Pool probably originated in this way. Today the canalized line of the river Witham as it flows through the City gives a misleading impression of the earlier width of the river, known from both antiquarian accounts and modern excavations (Drury nd; Whitwell 1970, 42; Jones 1981, 88-90). On historical and perhaps also epigraphic grounds, part of the Ninth Legion is thought to have been in Lincoln before AD 50, whereas the samian (but not the coins) studied to date suggests that the uphill fortress was not built before 60 (Jones 1980; Hartley 1981; Reece & Mann 1983). If, as at Gloucester, there was an earlier base, where was it? Is the location of the early cemetery up to 2km to the south a clue, or is this a reasonable distance at which to expect military graves? Some of these burials are of soldiers of Legio II A diutrix and therefore postdate 71, but others have no cognomina and, some scholars suggest, ought to predate 50. 1 Once begun, this seems to have continued as the major cemetery for the troops, and only 86 If we are looking for a suitable location for a base — be it auxiliary fort or vexillation fortress-in this area, then the gravel terraces identified by the Soil Survey beneath the north part of the South Common and between the two known cemetery areas would be the most favourable spot from the point of view of soil conditions. But to date there have been no Roman finds from here. To the north only small areas of higher ground exist south of the river, a fact borne out by recent excavations (eg at St Marks: Gilmour in Jones 1981, 92ff). It does seem, however, that by the late Neronian period there was occupation associated with the army on both sides of the river (Wacher in Colyer & Jones 1979, 83; Jones et al forthcoming). On the north bank the natives may have been resettled in a regular canabae, since the land here would have been required for installations supplying the garrison. By the time the uphill fortress was abandoned, the area occupied had grown considerably, particularly on the hillside (see Fig 61). The size of the garrison is still uncertain. The fortress enclosed an area of approximately 40 acres (c 16 ha), similar to the contemporary fortresses at Exeter and Gloucester. Only small fragments of barrack blocks have been uncovered, and more large-scale excavations are required to bring our knowledge of the buildings and their demolition or reuse in the early colonia up to the level which exists for Exeter, Gloucester, and Colchester. If it is assumed that barracks lay against the western defences, the east-west width of that block will have been c 60-80m (c 200-250ft); when allowance is made for the principia and via principalis there could be no more than three strips of insulae separated by north-south streets in the retentura (cf Crummy, this volume, p 82 & Fig 56). But an attempt to reconstruct the plan of the Lincoln fortress on the lines suggested by Crummy for Colchester would be premature. Streets of this period which are known or can be assumed are the via sagularis (separated from the legionary
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No 59 ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Bri
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Copyright © 1985 Authors and Counc
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Illustrations Fig 1 Miletus Fig 2 C
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Introduction: the study of Classica
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Introduction and the land divided i
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Introduction Fig 3 Timgad: the colo
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Introduction Fig 6 Lepcis Magna: th
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Introduction xvi
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Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
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Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
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PART II THE PLANNING AND BUILDING O
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Dilke: Ground survey and measuremen
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The mechanics of the building trade
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Ling: The mechanics of the building
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Who paid for public buildings in Ro
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Duncan--ones: Who paid for public b
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Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public b
Page 49 and 50: Civic Pride: a factor in Roman town
Page 51 and 52: Frere: Civic Pride: a factor in Rom
Page 53 and 54: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 55 and 56: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 57 and 58: Wacher: The functions of urban buil
Page 59 and 60: Casey: The Roman housing market leg
Page 61 and 62: Casey: The Roman housing market Evi
Page 63 and 64: Casey: The Roman housing market Rom
Page 65 and 66: Drinkwater: Urbanization in the thr
Page 71 and 72: Forum and Capitolium in the early E
Page 73 and 74: Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the e
Page 75 and 76: The quick and the dead: suburbs, ce
Page 77 and 78: Esmonde Cleary: The quick and the d
Page 87 and 88: Salway: Geography and the growth of
Page 89 and 90: Colchester: the mechanics of laying
Page 91 and 92: Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
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Page 103 and 104: Jones: New streets for old: the top
Page 109 and 110: London in the 1st and early 2nd cen
Page 111 and 112: Perring: London in the 1st and earl
Page 113 and 114: Perring: London in the 1st and earl
Page 115 and 116: Marsden: London in the 3rd and 4th
Page 125 and 126: Barker: Aspects of the topography o
Page 131 and 132: Fig 81 Wroxeter: the area of excava
Page 133 and 134: probably from Viroconium, the robbi
Page 135 and 136: Forum Iuhi (Cividale) (Italy) 61a f
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