The Small Towns of Roman Britain

Abstract

The Small Towns of Roman Britain* By MALCOLM TODD I. INTRODUCTION T HOSE loosely planned roadside settlements, Strassensiedlungen, or 'small towns' and minor settlements as they are generally known in Britain, are a phenomenon common to all the provinces of the Roman Empire, but perhaps because of their very familiarity, and the difficulties attending study of their remains, they have never been systematically examined, even in a single province. The large-scale attention accorded by excavators to some major Roman towns has never been directed towards humbler settlements. A brief study of those in Germania Inferior and eastern Gallia Belgica was attempted by the late Franz Oelmann in 1922. 1 Oelmann tried to demonstrate, on evidence that has not been greatly enlarged since 1922, that the Strassensiedlungen of northern Gaul, the Germanies and Raetia were principally settlements of traders, and not agricultural villages. 'Aber auch die Einstrassensiedlungen, fur die die Bezeichnung vicus sicher iiberliefert ist, sind keine Dorfer in unserem Sinne, keine Bauernsiedlungen gewesen, sondern Niederlassungen von Kaufleuten und kleinen Gewerbetreibenden, und daher eher unseren Marktflecken oder einfach Markten, wie man in Siiddeutschland sagt, zu vergleichen.' 2 Little evidence on the character of the lesser civilian settlements was at that time available from Britain, or any other province, and in discussing Britain Oelmann was compelled to confine his attention to house-types from the larger towns, supporting his argument for the presence of 'kleine Gewerbetreibende' (small craftsmen) in the towns of the western provinces with the evidence of strip-houses at Caerwent and Silchester. The minor settlements have since been treated only incidentally by archaeologists, generally in the context of provincial administration. It is likely that some served as the administrative centres of pagi,i and in at least a number staging-posts of the cursus publicus were housed. At least from time to time, some housed officers from the staff of the provincial governor, notably beneficiarii consulares,* and occasionally perhaps stratores consulares.S But the * The first draft of this article was read by Professor Frere, a later version by Mr. Rivet. The shortcomings that have survived their criticism are to be ascribed to the author. 1 'Gallo-Romische Strassensiedelungen und Kleinhausbauten.'

Las formas de ocupación rural en Hispania. Entre la terminología y la praxis arqueológica

“…La historiografía anglosajona comenzó denominando a las agrupaciones rurales de mayor entidad small towns (Todd 1970;Burnham y Wacher 1990) y la francesa agglomerations secondaires (Maurin 1990;Massy 1997;Aupert, Fincker y Tassaux 1998;Fiches 2002), de donde la historiografía española ha adoptado la nomenclatura. No obstante, bajo este concepto general y otros que aluden a lugares de menor entidad se engloban diferentes formas de ocupación que la investigación tiende a denominar con términos actuales heterogéneos que resultan difíciles de aunar en la discusión científica e incluso, en ocasiones, de adscribir a realidades arqueológicas concretas.…”

The Origins of Romano‐british Small Towns

“…Sites with military origins have received detailed attention from Webster (1966;1970): it will suffice here to summarise the known examples and bring the subject up to date. As with the continuity question, it is necessary to define what constitutes adequate evidence for military origins: in the past, a scatter of military objects has often been accepted, though even this is better than assumptions based on mileages between sites (Webster 1980, maps IV-VI).…”

Fixed‐point Retail Location in the Major Towns of Roman Britain

“…The building form that is frequently identified as a taberna in Roman Britain is a long rectangular building, normally separated by an eaves‐drip from its neighbour, with its shorter end fronting onto the street, commonly known as ‘strip‐buildings’ or ‘strip‐houses’ (Collingwood and Richmond 1969, 125). Although it should be noted that not all of these strip‐buildings were tabernae , as some could be the dwellings of those who cultivated the surrounding land (Todd 1970, 120–1), there is growing corpus of evidence that confirms the commercial nature of these buildings (Burnham and Wacher 1990, 46).…”