Roman Canterbury:
Images of a Romano-British town.
The set of 39 images
and these accompanying notes have been prepared by Canterbury Archaeological
Trust (CAT) Education Service.
Using the pictures
You could use them
-
• When studying Canterbury’s past.
• In a case study for a Romano-British town.
• When investigating sources of evidence for the past
(Archaeology is a primary source).
By -
• Pasting pictures into your own digital presentations.
• Setting ‘enquiries’ about an image.
• Guiding the children to search for the images in their own research.
• Printing off selected pictures to support a piece of work.
And I’m sure
you’ll find other ways to use them!
Conditions of using CAT images
• Copyright
ownership remains with CAT, Canterbury Museums and Marion Green where
indicated on the images.
• The images
are screen quality but will give you a reasonable print out as well.
CAT can supply a high quality CAT image for a fee. Anyone wishing to
use an image for publication must contact the copyright holder.
Feedback
I would appreciate
some feedback on how you use our images. You can contact:
Marion Green, Education
Officer
Canterbury Archaeological Trust
92a Broad Street
Canterbury CT1 2LU
mariongreen@canterburytrust.co.uk
Tel: 01227 462062
Fax: 01227 784724
The Roman Canterbury images
How do the layers build up?
Roman layers lie
between red lines in the picture. Beneath the Roman are older (earlier)
remains. Above are more recent (later) remains. From
prehistoric times, people have been putting up and knocking down or
abandoning buildings. They often just spread out the rubble (making
a construction layer) and built on top. They made track
ways and roads and dumped rubbish – and a whole lot more. These
activities result in layers building up.
How far down the
Roman remains are depends on what has happened on a
piece of land since the Roman period. If the area was not occupied again
until recently, the remains will not be far below modern ground surface.
But if many generations have occupied the land (Anglo-Saxon, medieval
etc.), then Roman remains may be as much as 2 or 3 metres down.
'Jigsaw' evidence:
Notice how the
medieval pit has destroyed part of the Roman road beneath. Many deep rubbish
pits and cess pits were dug in back yards in medieval
times. They damaged any Roman evidence beneath, leaving only fragmentary
remains. Archaeologists plot and draw all of these fragments in both vertical
and horizontal planes. They can then try to recreate
on paper what was once there. It’s like filling in the gaps of a
jigsaw.
Why
History is a load of old rubbish for class materials.
School group visits Canterbury’s Roman ‘High Street’
The archaeologist
is standing on the Roman ‘high street’ of Canterbury (beneath
Longmarket). Notice how building a Tudor cess tank
(lined with bricks in the picture) has destroyed a chunk of the Roman
street. This is an actual example of how something done more recently
has damaged the Roman layer underneath.
Although the tank
appears to be on the same level as the Roman street, the square hole
was cut much higher up the sequence of layers in Tudor times (see slide
03 for a vertical time line). The archaeologists have dug down to the
Roman level here, removing Tudor, then medieval, then Anglo-Saxon remains
as they dug down – which included removing the upper parts of
the deep tank which cut through all these layers during its construction.
Stratigraphy simplified
Archaeologists find
‘rubbish’ from the past – ruins of buildings, broken
pots, bones etc. In this wheelie bin of modern rubbish, the oldest
is at the bottom, the most recent at the top –
as on an excavation. But the bin has only one day’s rubbish per
layer. The simple stratigraphy diagram beside it represents hundreds
of years for each layer.
Before the Roman Conquest:
Reconstruction drawing of Late Iron Age Canterbury
Archaeologists reconstruction
of Canterbury just before the Roman conquest in AD43 when it was called
Durovernon. A settlement (compare a village
today) flanked the River Stour. The inhabitants had migrated from Gaul
from c. 100BC and were a farming people. Round houses
were modest built with wooden upright posts, wattle and clay
daub walls and probably thatched roofs. Archaeologists find
chunks of daub and circles of almost black soil where timber posts have
decomposed. We also find hand made pottery made locally, coins and imported
pottery from Italy, Gaul and the Rhineland – indicating some trade
with the Roman world even before the Roman conquest.
Experimental Archaeology at Butser
www.butser.org.uk
This experimental
site has been operating for many years. All of the reconstructed buildings,
tools and other objects used are based on archaeological evidence. The
researchers have found that these roofs are compact enough to keep rain
out but allow smoke to escape from a domestic fire lit inside. They
also examine cereal grains which have managed to survive on certain
sites and grow similar strains of crops.
A rich Iron Age burial in Hertfordshire:
Early trade
We don’t know
whose grave this was but he (probably was a ‘he’) must have
been of some standing in his community. Graves at this time (late 1st
century BC) usually had few pots. Was he an Iron Age chieftain? Or as
one school girl said – ‘maybe he owned a pub’. The
five amphorae at the back were imported from Italy.
They were made to hold wine. The small flagons (centre) came from the
Rhineland and other pots came from Gaul. These imported goods show trade
with the continent even before the Roman conquest.
Map showing the route of the invading Roman troops
There were probably
several reasons for the Roman invasion in AD 43. Here are some which
historians think contributed to the decision to invade.
• Before the
Roman conquest, Cunobelinus ruled over what we know as Kent
and Essex. He was pro-Roman and died in AD 41. His death gave those
tribes who were not so keen on the influences of Rome, an opportunity
to make an aggressive protest.
• There were strengthening bonds between anti-Roman tribes in
Britain and those in Gaul who felt the same way.
• The Emperor Claudius was an academic, not a military man. A
new conquest would make him look good.
• There was a driving ambition to expand the Roman Empire and
strengthen trade links.
• There was a strong belief in the Roman way of life.
40,000 troops landed
at Richborough. There is no evidence of resistance at Canterbury Their
aim was to reach Camulodunum (Colchester) where most of the
tribal uprising was concentrated.
The first towns:
Reconstruction drawing of Roman Canterbury c. AD 300
Growth of the Roman
town was gradual. Evidence shows that some people were still living
in round houses up to the end of 1st century AD while the new Roman
styles grew up alongside.
The Romans liked
to replicate their customs and lifestyle wherever they settled. This
is how we think Canterbury may have looked when all the main public
facilities were in place. The theatre (centre) may
have seated 3,000 (comparing its size to the St Albans theatre) –
a place for concerts, plays and religious festivals. Foundations are
still visible in cellars in St Margaret’s St, Watling St and Castle
St. Discovering chunks of Italian and Greek marble and column fragments
suggest a temple precinct was nearby (top right). The
town hall (basilica) probably lay in the area
of the County Hotel and modern High St (centre right) and good evidence
has been found for public baths (bottom right) –
a place to go to work out, get clean and meet up with friends and colleagues
– like a ‘Leisure Centre’. Part of the underground
heating system (hypocaust) is on view in Waterstones
basement. Stone foundations for buildings with several rooms and roof
tiles, painted plaster fragments and tesselated floors
are evidence for houses and apartments crowding the
town. Notice how some private houses had their own baths. There is also
evidence for bone hair pin manufacture in the town and pottery kilns
outside the town and there would have been shops to sell these and many
other locally produced and imported goods.
Towns were centres
of administration from which the Roman authorities and then also the
Romano-British could engage in trade and boost the economy, resulting
in an overall rise in living standards. Durovernum Cantiacorum
would have been a thriving, bustling place to live.
Notice the town
wall (top) which surrounded the town but was not built until
the 3rd century. The majority of the wall you see today is medieval
and later, but sits on the line of the earlier Roman circuit. Top right
is a very large building with several rooms which may have been a type
of hotel (mansio).
Roman
and Anglo-Saxon Canterbury reconstructed for class materials.
Aerial view of Canterbury taken c. 2000.
Yellow highlighting
indicates the original Roman wall circuit (fragments of walls and gateways
have been recorded on many occasions). Much of this circuit is now Canterbury’s
ring road.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Foundations of buildings
This big building
may have been a type of hotel (mansio), situated
on s-w side of Canterbury against the modern ring road. The site is
currently being redeveloped. Many fragments of painted wall plaster
show the building was colourfully decorated. Stone (masonry)
buildings were much more durable than the Iron Age thatch and timber
structures.
The Roman town of Pompeii
More complete buildings
at Pompeii. Archaeologists compare the fragments they find with other
sites which may have more substantial remains.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Mosaics
Visit Canterbury
Roman Museum and see these mosaics in situ.
Simple materials of red and orange tile, limestone and grey rag stone
make up attractive panels. Houses could have mosaics in some rooms while
others may have simple clay floors.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Mosaics at Canterbury Cathedral
This tesselated
floor and glimpse of mosaic came to light when Canterbury Cathedral
plumbers opened up a small trench to inspect some piping. The external
wall of St Gabriel’s Chapel is top left. Scale
= 2 metres.
It is not known
whether this building had any early Christian significance.
St Gabriel’s Chapel site, Canterbury Cathedral
The spoil heap
of earth shows the location of the small trench outside
the cathedral.
Evidence for the Roman town:
A kitchen oven
Simple brick built
oven on a tessellated floor. The wall it sits against is painted red
(just visible beneath the peak of the excavator’s
hard hat). Durable materials mean more for archaeologists to find!
Evidence for the Roman town:
Painted wall plaster
It is very rare
to find in tact Roman painted walls in Britain (although the Painted
House in Dover has unusually well preserved remains still standing to
visit). Enough fragments have been found to suggest that Canterbury
buildings could have colourful schemes.
Wall paintings at Pompeii
Canterbury buildings
also had both plain and decorated colour schemes as at Pompeii.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Hypocaust system
The first central
heating system! These pilae tiles supported
the upper floor (see diagram). They were found under the Longmarket
and belonged to a private house. You can see part of the Roman public
baths hypocaust in the basement of Waterstones bookshop in St Margaret’s
St.
How a hypocaust worked
Public baths and
some private houses had this technology. Roman under floor heating meant
warm water and warm rooms.
Using available building materials
Here at Hadrian’s
Wall, local stone has been used to build the supporting columns of an
underground heating system (hypocaust). In east Kent, these columns
were usually built with stacks of square ceramic tiles (pilae).
Evidence for the Roman town:
Potting industry
Seven Romano-British
kiln sites have been excavated on the outskirts of
Canterbury. Kilns were supposed to be built outside the town because
of fire risk. The Canterbury potteries produced wheel turned
jars, dishes, flagons and cups for everyday use and building materials
– tesserae, flue tiles
for heating systems, roof tiles (the interlocking curved imbrex
and flanged tegula) and all-purpose tiles.
The Romans introduced
the fast wheel for making pottery. In prehistoric times, simple hand
turn tables may have been used. The colour of pottery could
be controlled by using an iron bearing clay and changing the firing
conditions in the kiln. If the kiln had an open flue air could
circulate creating an oxidising atmosphere and the
result would be buff or orange. If the flue was closed off this would
result in a carbonising atmosphere in the kiln and
the result would be grey or black.
Clay and timber
for fuel were readily available around Canterbury.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Bone working industry
Evidence for a pin
making workshop using animal bones has been found in the town centre
– whole pins, partially cut pins and waste material have been
recovered.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Bakeries
Finding large chunks
of quern stones for grinding grain suggests several
bakeries.
There were presumably
other industries – leather working, textiles and so on for which
little evidence has been found because these materials decompose in
the soils.
Trade with the Roman Empire, map
The many thousands
of objects discovered on excavations show us that goods were imported
from throughout the Roman Empire.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Town wall remains
Here, a small part
of the original Roman town wall (between red lines) has managed to survive
because the ruins were later incorporated into the build of this medieval
church of St Mary Northgate. The rounded boulders are
typical Roman work and are quite distinct from the medieval knapped
flint above. The facing of the wall below the Roman section
has been patched up at various times.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Blocked Roman single arch gateway in situ
To find this –
at Lady Wootton’s Green go over the crossing towards the city
wall and straight into the car park. The blocked gateway is in the wall
and there is an information board nearby.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Blocked Roman single arch gateway, illustration
Roman gateway:
Reconstruction drawing of the double arch gateway at Ridingate
Evidence from small
trenches around the walls has shown that all the Roman gateways were
single arched except for this one which spanned Watling Street. Travellers
from Dover would have entered the town here.
There is still access
into the town at this point off the Ridingate roundabout.
Evidence for the Roman town:
Town wall turret
Discovered during
the Whitefriars excavations (THE
BIG DIG) this turret has been preserved in situ
as it is the only one believed to have survived on the circuit. It is
an integral part of the original Roman wall and sits on the inside of
the wall. It may have been a look-out post.
A permanent Canterbury
Archaeological Trust exhibition space opened here in June 2006. It is
sited near the bus station, close to the ticket office.
Burial practice:
Cremation
A cremation
burial usually consisted of a burial urn (containing
cremated bone) and other vessels. Dishes and flagons may have originally
held food and wine for the journey across the River Styx to the After
Life. All the pots here are types that would be used in everyday life.
The flagons were made in Canterbury kilns. The two grey jars were made
locally and the red samian dishes and small cup were
made in Gaul.
Life expectancy
for the working classes was around 35–50 years.
Burial practice:
Cremation urn scan
The cremated bone
occupies the lower part of the pot. A scan like this
can help with the excavation of the vessel’s contents.
Burial practice:
Roman foot wear
These iron
hobnails are all that remain of a pair of Roman boots or shoes.
They probably had leather uppers which have decomposed.
They were found in a cremation grave with pots and the cremated bone.
Using the scale for reference you can estimate the size of the person’s
feet…child or adult?
Burial practice:
Inhumation
Inhumation
is when the (normally whole) body is buried. A lot of information can
be gleaned from ‘dry’ bones – gender, age at death,
sometimes disease. It is often not possible to tell how a person died
as most diseases attack soft tissue and not the bone. Fatal weapon injuries
though are easier to detect. These were found beneath the site of Tesco
metro.
Inhumation:
Conservation
The conservator
here is cleaning up a pair of copper alloy bangles
around the wrist of a female skeleton. The shape of the pelvis indicates
the gender.
Roman Canterbury plan
This image is taken
from ‘Roman Canterbury’, a book for KS2 and 3 produced by
Canterbury Archaeological Trust. It gives another perspective to the
Roman town and accompanies the Roman reconstruction image. Since the
map was drawn excavations at the Whitefriars have revealed a further
‘town house’ and a wall turret to add to these main features.
Note the cemeteries
around the outside of the walls. The 1st – 2nd century AD cremation
cemetery at Worthgate seems to fall partly within the walls. An explanation
for this would be that, at that time, the town boundary (probably an
earthen bank) encompassed a slightly smaller town with this cemetery
lying outside it. The masonry wall seen here was not built until the
late 3rd century AD.
The northernmost
‘town house’ marked here is the one at Canterbury Roman
Museum where you can see the intact mosaics. Part of the heating system
for the ‘public baths’ can be seen in Waterstone’s
basement in St Margaret’s Street. The ‘silver hoard’
and finds from the ‘family burial’ and ‘Roman soldiers’
can all be seen at Canterbury Roman Museum and Museum of Canterbury
– check which has what when you want to visit!
The decline of Roman Canterbury:
A 5th century A.D. multiple burial
This image symbolises
the breakdown of civic administration at the end of the Roman period.
The beads in particular date the group to the early 5th century A.D.
Four humans (adult
male, adult female, two juveniles) and a dog were buried in a deep pit
within the town (Beer Cart Lane). Normal practice was to bury individuals
separately and in cemeteries outside the town walls.
It is a very evocative
image of the chaotic state that must have prevailed at this time.
An
Untimely Death for class materials.
The decline of Roman Canterbury:
A 5th century A.D. multiple burial, illustration
Illustration of
the multiple burial found at Beer Cart Lane. The skeletons of the two
adults are near-complete. The bones of the two juveniles are scattered.
The decline of Roman Canterbury:
5th century A.D. silver hoard
Silver hoard
found excavating in Westgate Gardens in 1962.
The hoard was buried
in the early 5th century AD, when local people were being subjected
to numerous raids and breakdown of law and order.
Perhaps the owner
imagined s/he would be able to collect these possessions later when
things had calmed down…
The objects are
displayed in Canterbury Roman Museum.
Reconstruction drawing of Anglo-Saxon Canterbury c. AD 600
First immigrants
left minor traces of occupation. Eventually the A/S
peoples gained control and settled the area. The coming of Augustine
in AD 597 and conversion of King Ethelbert of Kent and subsequent conversion
among the local population gave Canterbury a boost. The town began to
prosper again with the influence of the Church.
The image is a sharp
contrast to the Roman reconstruction. Compare the two and note the Roman
buildings still standing (but in ruins) in A/S times.
Roman
and Anglo-Saxon Canterbury Reconstructed for more information.
It would be a mistake
to think of the A/S peoples as ‘primitive’. They came from
a different culture with different technologies and were settling in
(what had been for a very long time) an abandoned town. Some beautiful
metalwork was produced at this time. The Canterbury Pendant, a gold
medallion set with garnets, was discovered outside the town and is on
display at the Museum of Canterbury in Stour St.
Additional
notes
Some events leading to the decline of Roman Britain
• From 3rd
century onward many Germanic communities on the continent were seeking
new lands – led to conflicts within the Roman provinces.
• Spill over into Britain with spasmodic attacks along south and
east coasts by groups of Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
• Attacks from Picts and Scots in northern Britain (who had never
submitted to Roman rule) added to the problems.
• Civil unrest within the heart of the Roman Empire. Eventually
Roman troops were taken back to defend Rome itself and elsewhere.
And all came to
a head in 4th century AD and final withdrawal of troops from Britain
in AD 410.
Documentary
(Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Bede) and archaeological evidence.
What happened to the Romano-British people?
• Increasingly,
in the face of these persistent attacks and with diminishing ‘Roman’
support, people had to defend their own families and property.
• As a result the once well ordered administration and maintenance
of towns would have suffered.
• Plagues and disease documented by later historians (eg. Bede)
added to the problems and would have reduced the population.
• Some people would have left the towns for the relative safety
of the countryside.
‘Abandonment
layers’ on Canterbury excavations suggest the town was practically
deserted in 5th century AD.
Marion Green
Education Officer
Canterbury Archaeological Trust
2006
