XXI.—Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on the Site of the Romano-British City of Venta Silurum, in the years 1907 and 1909

Thomas Ashby; Alfred E. Hudd; Frank King Esq.

doi:10.1017/S0261340900010225

XXI.—Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on the Site of the Romano-British City of Venta Silurum, in the years 1907 and 1909

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

Thomas Ashby ,

Alfred E. Hudd and

Frank King Esq.

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The excavations of 1907 were begun on 29th April, much earlier than usual, and were continued till the beginning of October, under the direction of Messrs. Ashby, Hudd, and H. L. Jones (assisted by Mr. F. King and Mr. F. G. Newton, as architects). The whole of the work has been carried out upon land belonging to Viscount Tredegar, F.S.A., President of the Caerwent Exploration Fund, to whom the warmest thanks of the Committee are again due.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , 1909 , pp. 565 - 582

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900010225 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1909

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^{page 565 note a} Since this Paper was read to the Society, the western portions of the Basilica and Forum have been excavated, and the account of the discoveries there made have been incorporated in this Report.

^{page 565 note b} The excavations of 1907 have shown that the rooms which were in 1905 supposed to belong to a separate house, and were numbered XV n, really formed a part of House V n.

^{page 566 note a} Archaeologia, lx. pl. xviiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 566 note b} At the junction of the two streets the hole could be seen in which a vertical stake or post, 3 inches in diameter, had stood. The hole was 2 feet deep, and the top of it 3 feet 3 inches below the modern level. For about 2 feet to the east, north, and north-west of this stake hole was a layer of burnt or decayed wood 3 to 6 inches thick, and close by were blocks of wood and iron conglomerate.

^{page 567 note a} Archaeologia, lix. pl. ixGoogle Scholar.

^{page 567 note b} Archaeologia, lvii. 309Google Scholar.

^{page 567note c} Archaeologia, lx. pl. xviiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 567 note d} Their orientation is shown as practically identical in Archaeologia, lx. pl. xviiGoogle Scholar.; but this has since been found to be an error.

^{page 568 note a} For its plan see Archaeologia, lix. pl. xGoogle Scholar.

^{page 568 note b} See Plate xcii. h.

^{page 570 note a} Archaeologia, liii. pl. xliGoogle Scholar.

^{page 570 note b} Archaeologia, lx. pl. xviiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 571 note a} Archaeologia, lx. pl. sixGoogle Scholar.

^{page 572 note a} In the north aisle are remains of much later walling, shown in the plan south of Room 4, belonging to a period after the destruction of the Basilica. The narrow wall in Room 11 at the west end of the nave also belongs to this late period.

^{page 572 note b} See Plate xcii. E.

^{page 572 note c} Archaeologia, liii. 552Google Scholar and pl. xxxviii.

^{page 573 note a} See Plate xcii. c.

^{page 573 note b} From a drawing by Mr. F. G. Newton.

^{page 574 note a} In this room were found two small fragments of a sandstone column, a moulded bracket of freestone, and a coin of Valens.

^{page 575 note a} The height of the stop on the east was 1½ inch, and the width 1 foot on the outside.

^{page 575 note b} This stone is now in the yard of Caerwent House, used as a bench for washing milk churns.

^{page 576 note a} A small brass of Trebonianus Gallus (A.D. 251–254) was found on the floor level of Room 6.

^{page 577 note a} Mr. W. H. St. John Hope suggests that what is claimed as the south aisle of the Basilica was actually a portico or ambulatory open towards the Forum, and separated from the Basilica by a wall with doorways only. In proof of this he points out that the west wall of the nave of the Basilica is not continued southwards across the ambulatory, as it ought to have been were the latter an aisle, and that in the same way there is no wall in continuation of that west of Rooms 9 and 10. He further argues that in our northern climate it is unlikely that the Basilica would have had an open colonnade to the south as well as an aisle open to the Forum. The Basilica would thus, according to Mr. Hope, have had a single aisle only, like the Basilica at Silchester after its reconstruction.

^{page 577 note b} See Plate xcii. D.

^{page 577 note c} In the south aisle there is an irregular aperture in one of the slabs which might have been a manhole. Only four coins, fifth-century minims, were found in the drain. Two samples of soil taken from it and examined by Mr. A. H. Lyell and Mr. E. T. Newton were found to contain a grain of wheat (triticum), a phalange of a roebuck, bones of the vole, shrew, and blindworm, and fragments of fish and bird bones.

^{page 578 note a} The small open drain found above the northern portion of the box drain in 1905 (Archaeologia, lx. 127Google Scholar) began in the middle of the street, and after running from east to west for a distance of 3 feet turned northwards, when it came over the large drain, running through the south wall of the yard of House XV N by an aperture about 9 inches square. It was made of flat stones, and roughly covered in the same way.

^{page 578 note b} It is possible that the northern stones of this box drain have been removed for use elsewhere, and, in fact, the stones forming the covered way inside the North Gate may have been some of them. They are about the same size and character.

^{page 579 note a} A similar discovery was found to the east of the Forum at Silchester; see Archaeologia, liii. 562Google Scholar, where Mr. Hope suggests that the shells were accumulated to be calcined for fine lime. This is hardly likely to have been the case at Caerwent, where good limestone is plentiful.

^{page 581 note a} Archaeologia, lix. 117, and pl. xiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 581 note b} Archaeologia, lix. pl. xiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 582 note a} Similar terra-cotta toys are still sold in the bazaars at Tripoli, North Africa.

^{page 582 note b} Archaeologia, lix. 123Google Scholar.

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XXI.—Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on the Site of the Romano-British City of Venta Silurum, in the years 1907 and 1909

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