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The Origins and Development of the ‘Small Town’ of Cunetio, Mildenhall, Wiltshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Mark Corney
Mark Corney
Affiliation:
Norton St Philip, Somerset
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Britannia , Volume 28 , November 1997 , pp. 337 - 350
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Copyright © Mark Corney 1997. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 For the derivation of the names Cunetio and Kennet see A.L.F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place Names of Roman Britain (1979), 328-9; Jackson, K., ‘Romano-British place names in the Antonine Itinerary’, in Rivet, A.L.F., ‘The British section of the Antonine Itinerary’, Britannia i (1970), 34–82, esp. 70-1.Google Scholar

2 B.W. Cunliffe, Iron Age Communities in Britain (1991), 136.

3 E. Besly and R. Bland, The Cunetio Treasure. Roman Coinage of the Third Century AD (1983).

4 R. Colt-Hoare, Ancient Wiltshire II, Roman Aera (1821), 35, 67, 71-2, 90, and plan opp. 91. (Colt-Hoare identified a sub-rectangular earthwork around the parish church of Mildenhall as Roman. Although Roman material is recorded from the locality the earthwork is more likely to be of medieval date.)

5 WAM vii (1862), 121; Rev. C. Soames, WAMxix (1881), 84-8 (including an early reference to the observation of streets appearing as cropmarks); Brooke, J.W., ‘The excavation of a late-Roman well at Cunetio (Mildenhall)’, WAM xli (1920), 151–2.Google Scholar

6 Joseph, J.K. St, ‘Air reconnaissance of Southern Britain’, JRS xliii (1953), 81–97, pl. xiii, 2.Google Scholar

7 The final report is still awaited, however interim accounts are published in WAM lvi (1955), 191-2; lvii (1959-60), 233-5 and 397; lviii (1961-2), 35 and 245; and lx (1965), 137. Annable, F.K., ‘A late first century well at Cunetio’, WAM lxi (1967), 9–24.Google Scholar An appraisal of these and earlier investigations is conveniently summarized in B.C. Burnham and J. Wacher, The ‘Small Towns’ of Roman Britain (1990), 148-52.

8 D.R. Wilson, ‘The “Small Towns” of Roman Britain from the Air’, in W. Rodwell and T. Rowley (eds), The Small Towns of Roman Britain, BAR Brit. Ser. 15 (1975), 9-49; Aerial Archaeology iv (1979), 104-6. Aerial reconnaissance of the site continues. A comprehensive collection of photographs is held by the RCHME National Library of Air Photographs, NMRC, Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2GZ.

9 op. cit. (note 4).

10 Located at the foot of Forest Hill and some 400 m west of Cunetio. VCH Wilts. I, i, 87.

11 Robinson, Paul, ‘Iron Age coins from Cunetio and Mildenhall’, WAM lxxxvi (1993), 147–9.Google Scholar

12 Corney, M., ‘Multiple Ditch Systems and Late Iron Age Settlement in Central Wessex’, in Bowden, M., Topping, P. and Mackay, D. (eds), From Cornwall to Caithness: Some Aspects of British Field Archaeology, BAR Brit. Ser. 209 (1989), 111–28.Google Scholar

13 The measurements for the ploughed-out circuit are based on the air photographic record and must be seen as approximate.

14 Colt-Hoare, op. cit. (note 4), plan opp. 91.

15 ibid.

16 ibid., 71-2 and pl. opp. 72.

17 C. Soames, Notes for a History of the Parish of Mildenhall (c. 1888), Devizes Museum Library, Shelf 238.

18 Annable, F.K., ‘A bronze military mount from Folly Farm’, WAM lxx/lxxi (1978–for 1975/1976), 126–7.Google Scholar

19 Annable, F.K., ‘Further finds at Folly Farm, nr Mildenhall’, WAM lvi (1955), 191–2.Google Scholar

20 Thanks are extended to Mr Walters for making the photograph available and discussing the region in general.

21 Soames, op. cit. (note 17).

22 St Joseph, op. cit. (note 6), 81-97. Wilson, D.R., ‘Romano-British villas from the air’, Britannia v (1974), 251–61, pl. xxv.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Trow, S.D., ‘Excavations at Ditches hillfort, North Cerney, Gloucestershire, 1982–3’, TBGAS cvi (1988), 19–55.Google Scholar

24 op. cit. (note 4), 89 and plan opp. p. 91.

25 op. cit. (note 12), 123.

26 WAM lvi (1956), 241-5. The width of the inner ditch is not stated in the interim account. See also The Illustrated London News (1 June 1957), 900–1, photographs published as figs 5 and 7 show the excavated ditches.

27 WAM lvii (1959), 235. Dimensions of the ditch are not given. It is impossible to determine whether this was the inner or outer ditch of the circuit.

28 op. cit. (note 26), 244.

29 op. cit. (note 8). The geophysical survey is briefly described in A.J. Clark, Seeing Beneath the Soil (1990), 14-16.

30 op. cit. (note 26); op. cit. (note 27).

31 op. cit. (note 27), 233-5.

32 J.P. Bushe-Fox, First Report on the Excavation of the Roman Fort at Richborough, Kent (1926), 29-34, Pl. xxxv.

33 J.S. Wacher, Excavations at Brough-on-Humber, 1958–61 (1969), 44-7, figs 18, 21, and 22.

34 WAM lvii (1960), 397; lviii (1961). 35; lx (1965), 137.

35 op. cit. (note 27), 397.

36 WAM lviii (1961), 35.

37 WAM lx (1965), 137.

38 B.C. Burnham and J. Wacher, The ‘Small Towns’ of Roman Britain (1990), 160-4.

39 WAM lviii (1962), 245.

40 op. cit. (note 3).

41 Annable, F.K., ‘A late first-century well at Cunetio’, WAM lxi (1966), 9–24.Google Scholar

42 The bronze apron mount is discussed by Annable, F.K., ‘A bronze military apron mount from Cunetio’, WAM lxix (for 1974), 176–9Google Scholar ; Griffiths, Nicholas, ‘Early Roman military metalwork from Wiltshire’, WAM lxxvii (for 1982), 49–59.Google Scholar For the Savernake industry see Swan, V.G., ‘Oare reconsidered and the origins of Savernake ware in Wiltshire’, Britannia vi (1975), 37–61.Google Scholar

43 op. cit. (note 41).

44 WAM vii (1862), 121.

45 Brooke, J.W., ‘The excavation of a late-Roman well at Cunetio (Mildenhall)’, WAM xli (1920), 151–2.Google ScholarCunnington, M.E., ‘Notes on the pottery from a well on the site of “Cunetio” (Mildenhall), near Marlborough’, WAM xli (1920), 153–9.Google Scholar

46 Moorhead, T.L.S., ‘A reappraisal of the Roma n coins found in J.W. Brooke's excavation of a late-Roman well at Cunetio (Mildenhall) 1912’, WAM xc (1997), 42–54.Google Scholar I am grateful to Mr Moorehead for allowing me to read and refer to his work in advance of publication.

47 op. cit. (note 26), 243–4.

48 Rev. Soames, C., ‘Coins found near Marlborough’, WAM xvii (1878), 84–8Google Scholar ; WAM xxvi (1892), 413-16; WAM lxx/lxxi (1978 for 1975/76), 127-8. Webster, Graham, ‘A sherd of Nene Valley ware from Cunetio’, WAM lxxxiii (1990).Google Scholar

49 VCH Wilts. I, i, 87. R.P. Whimster, Burial Practices in Iron Age Britain. BAR Brit. Ser. 90 (1981), 240.

50 Annable, F.K., ‘A coffined burial of Roman date from Cvnetio’, WAM lxxii/lxxiii (1980 for 1977/1978), 187–90.Google Scholar

51 WAM xlv (1930), 197.

52 Hingley, R., ‘Recent discoveries of the Roman period at the Noah’s Ark Inn, Frilford. South Oxfordshire’, Britannia xiii (1982), 305–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 op. cit. (note 12).

54 M.C. Corney, A Guide Catalogue to the Iron Age Collections in Devizes Museum (forthcoming).

55 Robinson, P.R., ‘A local Iron Age coinage in silver and perhaps gold in Wiltshire’, Brit. Numis. Journ. xlvii (1977). 5–20.Google Scholar

56 The river crossing would have been of some strategic importance for communications between the south coast and the fort at Cirencester. A pre-Flavian military presence is also suspected at Wanborough, 17 km north of Cunetio (Anderson, A.S. and Wacher, J.S., ‘Excavations at Wanborough, Wiltshire: an interim report’, Britannia xi (1980), 115–26).CrossRefGoogle Scholar The site may also relate to the Claudio-Neronian military site at Silchester, 44 km to the east. It is worth noting that the road approaching Cunetio from Silchester is making for a junction with the Cirencester road close to the River Kennet.

57 Cirencester: 1.8 ha (4.4 acres). Hod Hill: 4.0 ha (10 acres). Wacher notes that the size of the Hod Hill fort does not reflect the small area actually occupied (.1. Wacher and A. McWhirr, Early Roman Occupation at Cirencester (1982), 60). Waddon Hill: approximately 1 ha (2.5 acres).

58 At Hod Hill the ditches attain a maximum depth of 1.6 m and at Cirencester 1.2 m. Compare with the circuit at Cunetio where the ditches are 4 m and 2.4 m deep.

59 At Wanborough the construction of Ermin Street is dated to the Neronian period, op. cit. (note 38), 162.

60 A point first made in S.S. Frere and J.K. St Joseph, Roman Britain from the Air (1983), 167.

61 op. cit. (note 38), fig. 46.

62 E.W. Black, Cursus Publkus: The Infrastructure of Government in Roman Britain, BAR Brit. Ser. 241 (1995), 45

63 Swan, op. cit. (note 42), considers the industry to be post-Conquest although a late Iron Age origin is now thought probable, Corney, op. cit. (note 54).

64 Hodder, Ian, ‘The distribution of Savernake Ware’, WAM lxix (1974), 84–97.Google Scholar

65 op. cit. (note 38), 163.

66 For Neatham see M. Millett and D. Graham, Excavations on the Romano-British Small Town at Neatham, Hampshire 1969–1979) (1986), 43. Crab Farm information kindly provided by Mr M. Papworth.

67 op. cit. (note 38), 95.

68 S. Johnson, Late Roman Fortifications (1983), 152-4, fig. 57 on p. 149.

69 V. Gaffney and M. Tingle, The Maddle Farm Project: An Integrated Survey of Prehistoric and Roman Landscapes on the Berkshire Downs, BAR Brit. Ser. 200 (1989).

70 Both projects are currently being prepared for publication.

71 Fowler, P.J., ‘The archaeology of Fyfield and Overton Downs, Wiltshire. Third interim report’, WAM lxii (1967), 16–33.Google Scholar For a recent find of late Roman bullion and coin hoard see Current Archaeology 134 (May/July 1993), 73-4.

72 These will have included Littlecote: Walters, B., ‘Littlecote Park Excavations: 1978–91’, WAM lxxxv (1992), 144–7Google Scholar ; and Castle Copse, Great Bedwyn: E. Hostetter and T. Noble Howe (eds), The Romano-British Villa at Castle Copse, Great Bedwyn (1996).

73 M.C. Corney, A Reappraisal of Late Roman Belt Fittings in Britain (forthcoming, provisional title).

74 I am grateful to Dr S. Moorehead and Dr P. Guest for discussing the results of their respective researches into the distribution of Valentinianic and Theodosian coinage.

75 cf. S.S. Frere, Britannia: A History of Roman Britain (1987), 198-9.

76 op. cit. (note 38), 73-4, 95.