The Temple of Claudius at Colchester Reconsidered

Abstract

T HE recognition by R. E. M. Wheeler in 1920 that the massive Norman keep at Colchester encapsulated the podium of the Temple of Claudius stimulated Dr P. G. Laver, his collaborator in an earlier study of the colonia, 1 to excavate in and around the keep during the 1920's and 30's. Some of the results were published by the late Rex Hull in Roman Colchester (1958). At the time of Hulj's death in 1976, the writer was preparing the drawings to accompany a paper 2 which included a summary report by Hull on the excavations undertaken within and south of the keep by Laver, assisted by E. J. Rudsdale, in 1931-3. Subsequently much additional information about these excavations came to light in Colchester Museum. This raised a number of important questions, which led in 1977 to one of Laver's trenches in the sub-crypt being reopened and extended, and the cutting of a trench in front of the keep. Mrs B. R. K. Niblett (nee Dunnett) also made available the results of her excavations on the west side of the Temple precinct in 1964 and 1969. The evidence from these sources relevant to the history of the site in the Roman period is presented here; and in conjunction with previously published material has been used as the basis of a re-appraisal of its development, summarized in TABLE I. A similar study of the post-Roman history of the site has recently appeared. 3 Much of the discussion is necessarily speculative, being intended primarily to advance hypotheses which may be tested in future excavations and by further analysis of the surviving structures. *My thanks are due to David Clarke, curator of Colchester and Essex Museum, and his staff, for their assistance in making available the records and finds in their charge, for arranging the excavations in 1977, and for their forebearance over the inconvenience which stemmed from them; to the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, Department of the Environment, for permission to excavate in the Castle Park, which is a scheduled Ancient Monument, and for their willingness to fund those parts of this report which relate to grant-aided rescue excavations; to Justine Bayley of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory and John Evans of the NorthEast London Polytechnic for their work on various aspects of ancient technology which arose from the project, and for their reports included here; to the other contributors of specific studies whose names appear at the head of this paper, and also to Dr R. M. Luff, R. Reece and H. Toller; Dr and Mrs W. J. Rodwell, for their help with the 1977 excavation and their comments on a draft of this paper; to John Callaghan, our draughtsman, then employed under a STEP scheme to assist in the publication of backlog excavations; and last but not least, to Philip Crummy, Director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, for his assistance in making available his own observations on the temple and castle, and his help in general to one who is a mere interloper in the archaeology of Colchester. 1 'Roman Colchester', JRS ix (1919), 139-69. 2 'Colchester Castle: some unpubl...

The Development of Towns

“…Insert Figure 3 here The first public buildings at Colchester were constructed in the area of the fortress annexe outside the main fortress, probably because the fortress was too crowded, and this may be the reason why the defences were levelled. This conversion and construction process, however, was not speedy and may have taken a number of years, since excavations indicated that the fortress ditch had been neglected for some time before it was levelled (Crummy 1988: 42); the Temple of Claudius, moreover, may well not have been begun until Claudius' death in AD 54, although this need not necessarily have been the case (Drury 1984). Like Gloucester, the defences of the fortress were maintained at Lincoln, and there was probably a fairly similar process of conversion (M. J.…”

Colchester, Fortress of the War God

“…Other major advances at this time were the aerial photograph surveys by Ida McMaster at Gosbecks, which revealed more of the late Iron Age/Roman field systems, and in 1976 the discovery by David Wilson of the Committee for Aerial Photography at the University of Cambridge and, independently, by John Hampton of the National Monuments Record, of a Roman fort at Shrub End. The churches of the town also received some attention (Rodwell and Rodwell 1977, 24-41), as did the castle and the Temple of Claudius Drury 1984).…”

Location, Function and Status: A Romano‐british ‘Religious Complex’ at the Noah's Ark Inn, Frilford (Oxfordshire)

“…However, amphitheatres had larger arenas than theatres and would have been less suited to religious displays and acts. Also, while theatres in Britain (at Gosbecks ;Hull 1958;Dunnett 1971;Drury 1980: at Verulamium;Kenyon 1934 and at Colchester;Drury 1984) are closely associated with temple buildings, amphitheatres are commonly military (as at Caerleon;Wheeler and Wheeler 1928: Chester;Thompson 1975: Charterhouse on Mendip;Gray 1909 and Tomen-y-Mur;Gresham 1938) or urban (see n. 3) in context. Consequently it would seem necessary to argue one of the following for Frilford: a) the amphitheatre is military, b) the amphitheatre is associated with a settlement of urban status rather than with the temple, c) the amphitheatre is associated with the temple and is a crude replacement for the typical Gallic form of amphitheatrekheatre.…”