Roman Abergavenny

-


The Roman Fort Plaque in Castle Street 

The Romans and Abergavenny
The Roman name for Abergavenny was Gobannium – it is listed in the 3rd century road map known as the Antonine Itinerary as a stopping-place or mansio, which suggests it was a place of some importance. Gobannium is a Latinised version of an original Celtic place-name, now thought to be ‘the place of Gobannos’, a celtic smith-god.
The earliest Roman occupation at Abergavenny in the first century AD was a fort built at the same time as the one at Usk. Archaeological excavations have found the remains of timber framed buildings and even a cast window-pane – luxury!

Later excavations showed that there were several phases of building on the site of the Roman fort which is where the Castle Street car park now lies. It seems to have followed the traditional form of a Roman fort with barrack blocks, granaries and a central administrative building. Much of their rubbish was thrown over the rampart at the top of the slope down to the River Usk below, and this has been a treasure trove of found objects, many of which are now in Abergavenny Museum. Other finds suggest a metal working area in the area now known as Flannel Street.

Some of the finds, such as parts of the plate armour of the soldiers, chain mail and parts of horse harness, suggest that the fort was garrisoned by an auxiliary cavalry unit or a mixed infantry and cavalry unit. The rebuilding of the fort was probably done by troops from the Second Augustan Legion based at Caerleon.

A small civilian settlement (vicus) grew up just outside the fort and excavation finds suggest this was around the area of the junction of Monk Street and Cross Street. The excavation of some hypocaust tiles used for the under-floor heating suggest at least one Roman style mansion.  A well-made Roman Road leading north to Kenchester was discovered in about 1848, and cremation burials and finds turn up from the areas alongside. It was customary for the Romans to inter their dead with offerings alongside roads leading out of the settlement and finds have included broaches and pottery with dates varying between AD 60 to the second half of the second century AD.  On the north side of Abergavenny, the discovery of the Leopard cup in 2003 (now in the National Museum as the drinking cup with a leopard for a handle is very valuable and rare) was the highlight of these discoveries. More recently, excavations behind Gunter Mansion in Cross Street revealed another Roman Road going east.

Discovering Abergavenny: Archaeology and History by Frank Olding. The first edition of this book is now under revision with new and exciting material and will be ready later in 2020.
Information provided by Dr. Gill Wakley

These Roman artefacts can be seen in Abergavenny Museum and we thank curator Rachel Rogers for permission to display them. The oil lamp was found in Abergavenny and is mid first century and was probably imported from North Africa or the Middle East. 
The two large broken jars contained cremated bone and soil, and are one of the earliest cremation burials in Wales, dating from around AD. 60. They were found with offerings to the dead. They were found together at Park Crescent Abergavenny.



Popular posts from this blog

The Crumlin Branch of the Monmouthshire Canal

-
Image
The Crumlin Branch of t he Monmouthshire Canal Many people have been using the canal system to carry out lockdown walks and the Crumlin branch of the canal is a favourite for people in and around Newport. Anne Dunton has sent some photographs of her daily walk during lockdown. She usually walks up to the top of Ridgeway in Newport and then takes the path down through the woods of  Allt-yr-yn Nature Reserve   to the canal . The reserve  occupies the 32 acre site of the former Allt-yr-yn House and lido, and an old stone quarry.  The lido has been turned into one of the ponds and only a few stones of the house remain .   Thus Anne is   walking through the grounds of  Allt-yr -yn house .    lt was  situated to the west of Newport and was surrounded by woodland and fields.   She remembers swimming in  Allt-yr-yn  lido  and this link is to a page from Newport Past. The lido was  opened by the Deputy-Mayor in 1934 and closed  in  the mid 1960s.   Now the remains are overgrown and obscur
Read more

Growing up in Llanarth

-
Image
Growing up in Llanarth by Peter Nash Llanarth Court: Photograph taken by Peter’s parents I was brought up in the village of Llanarth, half way though the last century. My parents had come to the village in 1949, to take up jobs as teachers in Llanarth Court in the recently opened boys’ preparatory school, Blackfriars, run by Dominicans. I was born 10 months after their arrival and my mother stopped work. We lived in the Pitt House, a 17 th Century farmhouse with a priest’s hole in the central chimney: Llanarth was and always had been a Catholic village. In 1953 mum then got a job in the village school, Clytha RC, but known to everyone locally as the Pitt School. It had two teachers, upstairs for juniors, where Eileen Badham, ruled with a rod of iron, and downstairs for Infants, where my mum held sway. There were about 40 pupils at this time. I started school, before my fourth birthday, as a dispensation for my mother.  I soon learned that the highlight of the
Read more

A Vanished Castle in Newport - Ebboth or Greenfield Castle

-
Image
A Vanished Castle in Newport Ebboth or Greenfield Castle A sketch copied from the the Tithe Map and with features such as the possible motte copied from the  OS map 25" to the mile. The existing mound is small and might not be a motte.  In March 1457 Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke and Margaret Beaufort, the thirteen year old widow of his brother Edmund, were guests of the duke of Buckingham at his castle of Ebboth (or Greenfield).   We would now call this Maesglas, part of Newport close to the river Ebbw.   So where was this castle that was fit to receive such visitors, and why not use the duke’s castle at Newport? Margaret had given birth two months earlier at Pembroke castle to her only child.   He would eventually become Henry VII, the first Tudor king, and father of Henry VIII.   She was a tiny person, the birth had apparently been difficult, and travelling was not easy.   The likely explanation is that as a rich and under age widow Margaret needed to find
Read more