Late Roman Towns in Britain: Rethinking Change and Decline

252 Pages·2011·6.126 MB·English

by  Adam Rogers

LATEROMANTOWNSINBRITAIN
Inthisbook,AdamRogersexaminesthelateRomanphasesoftownsinBritain.Crit-
icallyanalysingthearchaeologicalnotionofdecline,hefocusesonpublicbuildings,
whichplayedanimportantrole,administrativeandsymbolic,withinurbancomplexes.
Arguingagainsttheinterpretationthatmanyofthesemonumentalcivicbuildingswere
indeclineorabandonedinthelaterRomanperiod,hedemonstratesthattheyremained
purposefulspacesandimportantcentresofurbanlife.Throughadetailedassessment
ofthearchaeologyoflateRomantowns,thisbookarguesthatthearchaeologicalframe-
workofdeclinedoesnotpermitanadequateandcomprehensiveunderstandingofthe
townsduringthisperiod.Movingbeyondtheideaofdecline,thisbookemphasisesa
longer-termperspectiveforunderstandingtheimportanceoftownsinthelaterRoman
period.
AdamRogersisaBritishAcademyPostdoctoralFellowattheSchoolofArchaeologyand
AncientHistory,UniversityofLeicester.Hehaspublishedarticlesonthearchaeology
of the Roman and Late Iron Age periods, especially in the areas of settlement and
landscapestudies,religionandritual,andhistoriography.

Late Roman Towns in Britain
Rethinking Change and Decline
adam rogers
UniversityofLeicester
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107008441
(cid:2)C AdamRogers2011
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Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Rogers,Adam,1981–
LateRomantownsinBritain:rethinkingchangeanddecline/AdamRogers.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-00844-1(hardback)
1.Citiesandtowns,Ancient–GreatBritain. 2.GreatBritain–History–Romanperiod,
55B.C.–449A.D. 3.GreatBritain–Antiquities,Roman. 4.Romans–GreatBritain.
5.Urbanization–GreatBritain–History. I.Title.
da145.r733 2011
936.2(cid:3)04–dc22 2010046484
isbn978-1-107-00844-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsforexternalor
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workthrough topublication.

Contents
Listofillustrations pageix
Listoftables xi
Prefaceandacknowledgements xiii
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 ThetownsofRomanBritain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
1.2 LateRomanurbanism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
1.3 ImplicationsfortheEmpireasawhole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
1.4 Somepracticalconsiderations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
1.5 Chaptersofthebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 EdwardGibbon:growth,theGoldenAge,anddeclineandfall. . . . . . .14
2.1 ReadingGibbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Declineandfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Gibbon’scharacterandupbringing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4 Gibbonandarchaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 ApproachestoRomanurbanismandstudyingthelate
Romantown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
3.1 Thinkingaboutcivilisationanddeclineintowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2 ThehistoricalcontextoflateRomanurbanism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
3.3 Beyondtheeconomic:townandlandscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.4 Afinalpoint:theGoldenAgeoftowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4 Establishingtheurbancontext:pre-RomanplaceandRoman
urbanism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
4.1 AbriefbackgroundtoIronAgesettlement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
4.2 Thesites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3 D ating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
4.4 Theoppida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.5 Non-oppida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.6 Peopleandplace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
5 StructuresofthepublicbuildingsinthelaterRomanperiod:
framingplaceandspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
vii
viii Contents
5.1 Studyingpublicbuildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
5.2 Theforum–basilicacomplex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
5.3 Publicbathbuildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
5.4 Spectaclebuildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
5.5 Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.6 Themacellum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
5.7 Mansiobuildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
5.8 Porticoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.9 Monumentalarches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
5.10 Towngatesandtownwalls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
5.11 Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.12 Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
6 NewpublicstructureswithintownsinthelaterRomanperiod . . . . . . 117
6.1 Masonryaisledbuildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
6.2 LateRomanpavedareas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7 Industrialactivitywithinpublicbuildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
7.1 Metalworkingevidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
7.2 Otherindustries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
7.3 Interpretingthemetalworking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8 Timberbuildingsand‘squatteroccupation’within
publicbuildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
8.1 Earlytimberphasesofpublicbuildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
8.2 Thetimberstructures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
8.3 Studyingfinds:movingbeyondsquatteroccupationandthe
shantytown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
8.4 Thefunctionofthetimberstructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.5 Burialsaroundpublicbuildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
9 Sensesofplace:rethinkingurbanisminlateRomanBritain . . . . . . . . 176
9.1 Place:beyondbeginningsandendings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
9.2 Wideningperspectives:smalltownsandvillas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
9.3 Pointsforthefutureandfinalthoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
References 183
Index 227
List of illustrations
1.1 MapofBritainwiththelocationofthemaintownswithinthestudy page3
1.2 PlanofthepublicbuildingsknownatRomanLondon 11
2.1 PhotographofBentinckStreet,London;thesiteofEdwardGibbon’shouse
andlibraryisonthefarright 19
3.1 TheBrayfordPool,Lincoln,initsmodernsetting 41
4.1 Planofpre-RomanactivityattheoppidumatStAlbans(Verulamium) 53
4.2 Planofdykes,earthworks,andburialareasatColchesteraroundtheRoman
townofCamulodunum 57
4.3 Planofthepre-RomanactivityatWinchester 61
4.4 Planofthelatepre-RomanoppidumatSilchester 63
4.5 Planoflatepre-RomanactivityatLincoln 65
4.6 Planoflatepre-RomanactivityaroundtheRomantownofCirencester 67
5.1 Planofthereconstructedforum–basilicaatLondon 79
5.2 Planoftheexcavationsdemonstratingfourth-centurystructuralchangesto
theforumatCirencester 81
6.1 PlanoftheexcavationandtimberstructuresattheSt.Paul-in-the-Bailsite
withintheforumatLincoln 120
6.2 Planoftheexcavatedareaofthefourth-centuryaisledbuildingatColchester
House,London 121
6.3 TheCanterburytempleprecinctinthelatefourthandearlyfifthcenturies 128
7.1 Graph:occurrenceofindustrialactivitywithinthepublicbuildingsoftowns
inRomanBritain 131
7.2 Graph:typeandnumberofcasesofindustrialactivityoccurringwithineach
categoryofpublicbuildinginthetownsofRomanBritain 131
7.3 Planoftheexcavatedsectionoftheforum–basilicacomplexatCaerwent:
locationofmetalworkingactivityinthefourthcentury 132
7.4 Planofthelatefeaturesassociatedwiththeforum–basilicaatWroxeter,
includinganiron-smithingfurnace 133
7.5 PlanoftheSilchesterbasilicainthefourthandpossiblyfifthcenturies 135
7.6 PlanoftheexcavatedpartsoftheSt.Margaret’sStreetbathhousein
Canterbury 137
7.7 PlanoftheAnnexeoftheWroxeterbaths-basilicainPhaseW1datingtothe
latefourthcentury 139
ix