Water Newton/Durobrivae
This was a collaborative research and training project undertaken by the Albion Archaeology, Barbican Research Associates, The British Museum and Cardiff University on behalf of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust.
The 2019 evaluation trench team.
Although the settlement at Durobrivae is among the largest and most recognisable so-called ‘Small Towns’ in Roman Britain surprisingly little investigation has taken place within its walled area since the 1820s. Lying near modern Water Newton (Peterborough) on Ermine Street, the province’s main north-south road from London to the colony at York, the settlement grew adjacent to the River Nene to become one of the largest and most important places in eastern Roman Britain.
Drone photograph of Trench 1 with archaeological recording underway.
Evaluation, comprising geophysical survey (undertaken by Archaeological Services Durham University) and trenches, was undertaken in advance of a possible larger scale research project. The principle aim of the evaluation was to inform and improve the knowledge and understanding of the archaeological remains within the walled area. Eleven hand-excavated trenches were dug to provide a spatial spread across the walled area of the town, often targeting anomalies identified by earlier geophysical surveys. In addition, one trench was dug to investigate the damage being caused in the centre of the site by rabbits. The trenches examined a number of buildings town including a possible forum (marketplace), mansio (post-house with accommodation for travelling officials), bath-house, a temple, a possible church and a number of shops.
Surviving Roman wall and deposits within Trench 1.
While most trenches were 5m by 1m, the trench in the central part of the town measured 10m by 6m and was targeted on an area where rabbit burrowing is a significant and on-going threat to the archaeological resource.
This trench located the remains of a previously unknown public building in the town’s centre with one wall surviving 2m in height. This was probably a bath-house, perhaps associated with the adjacent putative mansio and, if proved correct, would be the only baths known within the town.
Other buildings investigated included a Romano-Celtic temple provided with a tessellated floor and in use into the early 5th century, a large courtyard building that is thought could have been the town’s forum (market place), an east-west aligned rectangular building with well-preserved masonry walls, as well as several roadside strip-buildings with domestic or industrial functions. The archaeological deposits encountered in 2019 generally consisted of the latest Roman buildings’ occupation levels, or were derived from their subsequent abandonment and robbing. The evidence suggests that the town was abandoned (and perhaps dismantled) over time in the late-Roman and/or immediately post-Roman periods (late 4th and 5th centuries). There is no evidence for widescale destruction and it seems that Durobrivae was not widely re-occupied by Anglo-Saxon inhabitants.
This project has produced significant new information about the layout and later history of Durobrivae that greatly enhances our knowledge and understanding of this important Romano-British urban settlement.
1. While evidence for the presence of mansio and temples are known from other small towns, Durobrivae is almost unique in having evidence for a possible forum and all that means for its official status i.e. since the 1930s it has been speculated as to whether the town became a civitas (tribal) capital
2. The recent investigations have identified a building which could be a church. If confirmed this would be significant in its own right but also because of the discovery within the town of a hoard of objects with suggested links to a Christian community
3. The consolidated coin record is now amongst the largest for any Romano-British ‘small town’
You can find out more about the project from the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust, including downloading the report (Guest, P., Upex, S. and Luke, M. 2019. Archaeological Evaluation of the Roman ‘Small Town’ of Durobrivae (Water Newton): Assessment report).
Summary by Mike Luke
