The Romans first invaded Britannia during the Gallic Wars in 55BC
Julius Caesar had received word that British Gauls might attempt to offer
support to their Gaulish cousins across the Channel to repel the Romans.
For strategic and commercial reasons the Romans chose a site at the lowest bridging point in the
estuary of the Tamesis (Thames) River.
The Thames offered the Romans a wide and protected birth for a fleet and Londinium therefore
became Rome’s port in Britannia.
From Trier: their administrative capital in Gaul, the Roman legions could pass through
Belgium and cross over to Britain by the shortest point of the Chanel to Kent and proceed
up the Thames to Londinium.
Access to the midlands was gained through Londinium where the legions could stop, rest,
pick up supplies and proceed towards the frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Romans
never managed to penetrate into the Valleys of Wales (stopping at Caerwent only) and
were stopped south of the Tyne River (Newcastle) where Hadrian built a wall against the
Picts of Caledonia (Scotland). They consequently never invaded Hibernia (Ireland).
London Bridge, 1831
Sold by City of London
To Robert McCulloch
Of Lake Havasu, Arizona in 1967
Rebuilding completed by 1971
London Bridge today in
Lake Havasu, Arizona,
USA
“London bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My Fair Lady.
... ...
Build it up with wood and clay
(Wash away)
... ...
Build it up with bricks and
mortar (will not stay)
... ...
Build it up with iron and steel
(bend and bow)
... ...
Build it up with silver and gold
(stolen away)
... ...
Set a man to watch all night
(suppose he falls asleep?)
Give him a pipe to smoke all
night
Spot the original castrum, the later civil forum and basilica, the baths and the Temple of
Mithras
a = 1st century castrum at Cripplegate, b = the large basilica in the later forum, c =
a bath complex, d = the Mithraeum and e = the original site of London Bridge,
which was a continuation of the civil cardo
From civilisation to frontier land
Find
Decumanus maximus, Forum, Basilica, a Romano-Celtic temple, amphitheatre, inner and outer
defensive ditches, polygonal watchtowers, polygonal temple
Caerwent’s forum with its large basilica
Square Roman –Celtic temple with an apse on the
eastern side
NB
Although Wheeler likens Caerwent to
Timgad because both were laid out as
military forts, Caerwent was planned as a
tribal capital to Romanize the natives,
whereas Timgad was planned to settle
veterans. One was self-consciously
Roman whereas the other was actually
Roman.
2005: Caerwent
(a) Identify the features
marked aa, b, c, f and g. (15)
(b) Comment on Wheeler’s
statement that Caerwent’s
primary function was to
provide a centre for
Romanization. (20)
(c) Give a description of the
forum of Caerwent. (15)
(a) a is the Decumanus Maximus, the main street running on an east-west axis
b is the forum of Caerwent. c is a bath complex opposite the forum. f is the amphitheatre
and g is the crude stone wall fortification built later on in the second century AD punctuated
by polygonal watchtowers.
(b) Wheeler likens Caerwent to the North African city of Timgad because both conform to the
textbook plans of military forts. Timgad however was a thoroughly Roman city, planned and
founded by Trajan to settle some of his war veterans. According to Wheeler, Caerwent was
planned with a certain casualness. Apart from the inner and out defensive ditches there is
little evidence of open hostility in the early settlement. Instead Caerwent was a frontier
town on the very edge of the Roman Empire and Wheeler thinks it was self-consciously
Roman as a result. By way of proof of his statement he refers to a well known passage from
the Roman Historian Tacitus who mentions such towns (as Caerwent) as ways of
acclimatising the native barbarians to the realities of Roman conquest by peaceful means; by
the power of suggestion. Caerwent is a taste of all that Roman has to offer. Its a billboard or
walk-in theme park offering the native Celts: the Silures of Wales (an unconquered territory)
the sights, scents and sounds of Roman civilisation.
(c) The forum of Caerwent is typical of a Roman provincial forum. It lies in the centre of town on
the north side of the Decumanus maximus. Unlike other cities this British forum is not
surrounded by fine marble colonnade but brick built buildings that perform the same
functions: an enclosed open space for public meetings, a shrine to the left hand side and
space for tabernas and markets. The entire forum is dominated by a large Basilica on the
northern side. The 176ft long Basilica was the townhall and law court. It is accessed via two
archways directly opposite the gate to the forum. It consists of two aisles, two tribunals set
in apses on either end and 6 municipal offices along the back wall.