The Heritage Hiker’s Guide to Caerwent

Caerwent

Caerwent – Venta Silurum (Market of the Siluries) dates to AD 75–80, it was a settlement linked to the Silures. The Silures were the native Iron Age tribe in South Wales when the Romans came to Britain. The building of Caerwent was part of the wider Romanisation of Britain. It would have been a busy place complete with public baths, public buildings and houses, spread out in a typical well-ordered Roman grid. Today it is a quiet little village with a local post office and a pub. Its easily accessible rich Roman remains interwoven with the modern village make it an absolute ‘must’ place to visit.

Lord Tredegar’s Legacy

It might not come as a surprise to learn that the Morgan Family of Newport had a major hand in uncovering Roman Caerwent. Octavius Morgan was a great collector and an antiquarian. His impressive horological collection (clocks) forms a part of the British Museum Collection and a number of his bequests are on display at the British Museum in London. Octavius began to take an interest in Caerwent in the 19^th century. Lord Tredegar – Godfrey Morgan (Octavius’s nephew) later developed his own keen interest in Roman archaeology and became the Chair of the Caerwent Excavation Fund. Godfrey also purchased a large amount of land to be excavated.

Godfrey’s main involvement were the excavations between 1899 -1913 (which ran yearly) funded by public subscription and heavily subsidised by Tredegar House. As part of the ongoing discoveries the impressive four seasons mosaic was presented to Newport Museum in 1903. After Godfrey’s (Lord Tredegar’s) death in 1913, his nephew (the new Lord Tredegar) Courtenay Morgan presented Newport Museum with a large collection of finds from Caerwent. He transferred the Caerwent Collection to Newport Museum in September 1916 where it remains today. There are several items from Caerwent on display.

There was once a small museum at Caerwent established by the Caerwent Excavation Fund. The museum remained open until 1914 when WWI broke out and it closed, never to reopened. There have been further excavations at Caerwent, most notably those in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The area is scheduled and therefore protected so further excavation is only likely to take place in limited circumstances such as in 2008 to check the nature and extent of archaeology across the area.

Caerwent Roman Walls

The first thing you will notice when exploring Caerwent are the impressive stone walls. These would have initially been built in earth and later built on in stone. The date for the fortification by stone wall is estimated to be the late 2nd Century. The D shaped stone bastions were added around the mid-4th century. These walls are broken by four gates North, East, South and West allowing controlled access in and out of the town along a main road from Gloucester to Caerleon.

Temple outside Roman walls near the Eastgate/field

Only a small amount of information from what lay outside of Caerwent’s Roman walls has been uncovered. During excavation works in 1912 three entrances to an octagonal temple were discovered. This temple stood just to the east of the eastern city wall boundary. In plan this building was a regular octagon surrounded by a circular wall.

Roman Temple (inside walls)

In the earlier 20th century excavations, a Roman temple was excavated and now its footprints are on open display. The temple itself consisted of a square chamber, possibly a tower, surrounded by a colonnade or corridor. It was set within a court with an altar for sacrifice and other offerings to a deity that remains unknown. The temple itself held the cult statues and would not have been entered by the public.

The temple was built in the 3rd or 4th century and occupied the site of an earlier townhouse. The site fronted onto the main street and stood next to the great Forum-Basilica complex.

Forum Basilica

The Forum-Basilica at Caerwent was first excavated in the early part of the 20th century. The remains were consolidated for public view more recently. Only part of the original complex can be seen. This includes the footings of the rear range which include a central shrine and the council chamber; part of the Basilica great aisled hall and part of the great paved Forum court or piazza.

The Forum-Basilica was built in the first part of the 2nd century when Caerwent became the tribal capital. The Forum would have been used as a gathering ground and a place of assembly. The great Basilica would have held a court. The tribal council met in the large chamber beside the shrine. This is said to be the best example of a Roman council chamber known in Britain.

 Excavations suggest that part of the site was later used for metalworking.

Shops and Courtyard House

The remains of two Roman buildings sited next to each other have been exposed along Pound Lane. A Courtyard House and a row of shops/workshops. The shop remains being closer to the main road.

In the mid-2^nd century two shops stood side by side, one being described as a Blacksmith’s. In the early 3^rd century, the two shops had merged to form one premises. By the 4^th century this site had become a home with a commercial element to its premises.

The Courtyard House next to the workshops is impressive in size. It had a number of rooms along different wings and even had its own mosaic.

Further along Pound Lane is another Courtyard House.  Here there is a good section of stone pillars that would have formed part of an underfloor heating system. Again, it is a house with a number of rooms with mosaics found in its heated rooms.

Amphitheatre in field near Basilica

Excavations between 1901-1903 unearthed the remains of an amphitheatre. It’s position within the city walls is unusual and it may have been built to host a particular festival or celebration. Such events might feature theatrics, ritual, gladiatorial combat, wild beast shows and the execution of criminals.

The amphitheatre was a roughly oval shaped stone-walled enclosure that would have supported or defined seating banks. Interestingly the structure was found to overlay earlier streets and buildings.

Roman Bathhouse

A Roman bathhouse is situated in the southwestern corner of the town, near the Motte. It was constructed during 2nd century to replace an earlier 1st century building. Only the northern part of the building was excavated, revealing a palaestra and frigidarium (with plunge bath) plus a later addition of a small block of hot rooms. Its position suggests that this bathhouse was not the town’s main baths. Another more central building is more likely to have been used as the public baths.

Caerwent after the Romans

Medieval Motte

The motte at Caerwent is a subcircular mound about 24 meters in diameter that rises up over the south-eastern corner of the Roman town. Described as a watchtower by some as it isn’t served by a traditional bailey, although it is possible the roman walls served as an outer bailey. Not many references although a ‘castell of Gwent’ is mentioned in about 1150.

St Stephen & St Tathan’s Church

Evidence does exists for a Christian presence in the Roman town of Caerwent in the form of a Chi-ro (early Christian symbol) found inscribed on a pewter bowl but continuity of Christianity into the post-Roman period cannot be proven. The first sign of a Christian presence comes from burials found outside the Roman walls possibly associated to an early Medieval Christian monastery linked to St Tathan, a Celtic saint originally from Ireland. St Tathan/Tatheus is said to have been granted ‘urbem Gwentonensem’ by King Caradoc. The first documentary reference dates between AD 950-1075.

The present church is set in the middle of the modern village and consists of nave, chancel, tower, porch and vestry, one bay of which serves as the organ chamber. The earliest datable features are the chancel and nave arcade. The north and west walls of the nave were rebuilt in the 15th/16th century, probably at the same time as the porch and the tower.

Alterations were made during restoration in 1910. The vestry dates to 1968. Extensive repairs to the tower and part of the roof took place after the church was struck by lightning in 1974.

The church contains a second font which came from the now destroyed church at Dinham. The font is described as 17th or 18th century. There is a 17th century carved wooden pulpit, dated 1632. Most of the other internal fittings are Victorian or later.

Archaeological Finds from Caerwent

There are some wonderful items located within the church. These include local Roman finds such as a Cinerary urn, architectural fragments (set into the walls) and a section of floor mosaic from a house south west of the church (set into the floor). There is also a stone fragment from a Medieval wayside cross originally located near to the church.

The Silurum Stone or Paulinus Stone found at Caerwent in honour of Tiberius Claudius Paulinus now rests in the porch as does a small altar dedicated to Mars Ocelus.

Material from excavations at Caerwent can be found at Newport Museum and within Amgueddfa Cymru  – Museum of Wales Collections.

Visiting Caerwent

There is a car park just off the main road through the village usually open daily (check ahead for times). If this isn’t open there is parking along the main road and near the church. The remains are open throughout the year at various locations around the village. It is possible to walk around ¾ of the town walls. The church can be visited and is usually open daily (check ahead). The car park toilets are currently closed.

Walks

A pleasant walk around parts of the Roman Walls taking in the remains at your leisure is around 2 miles.

For more articles on Roman sites to visit see Caerleon and Barry