Kingsholm Vexillation fortress and the Silures

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Kingsholm Vexillation fortress and the Silures
by Dr Tim Copeland

 Although I have been on ‘missionary duty’ living in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire  carrying out archaeological projects ranging from the Iron Age in the Thames Valley, Roman villas and deserted medieval villages, I have remained a member of the Association because I still consider Monmouthshire to be an important part of my personal heritage, and indeed my first experience of fieldwork was as a ten year old ‘excavating’ with Jeremy Knight at Cold Bath Road in Caerleon.

Tim Copeland with Jeremy Knight at the excavation at Cold Bath Road, Caerleon


My ‘lock-down’ task has been a continuation of my retirement project of writing up unpublished excavations, the last one being a 1977 exploration at Chedworth Roman Villa. My subject over present incarceration has been the preparation for publication of a 1989 excavation in Gloucester, more specifically at Kingsholm, famous for the stadium of the Cherry and Whites rugby team. Kingsholm in the northern part of the city is at the lowest crossing point of the River Severn and is thought to be the location of a vexillation fortress holding part of a legion, and its associated auxiliary units, on the front line of the region to be annexed by the Roman army. If this is so then it prompts an important question: Where were the limits of the Silurian peoples’ territories in the early Roman period of AD 47-60s when this military site was occupied? At the present time we consider that the River Wye was the boundary, but Kingsholm lies a long distance from that line. In the past it has been proposed that the border might be the River Severn and perhaps the recent LiDAR survey of the Forest of Dean which discovered fortlets/signal stations of this period, the dating of which was ascertained by excavation, supports this conception. (Hoyle, J., (2019) ‘Hidden Landscapes in the Forest of Dean’ Swindon: Historic England).

While permanent fortresses had civilian settlements outside the defences, at a short-lived, active, vexillation fortress such as Kingsholm and its purpose of subduing the Silures, space  would be at a premium, and any extra-mural land would be used strategically in: a construction camp, an annexe for the production of metal work needed in the fortress or in the field, a wagon park, an area for the stabling cavalry horses, a provision storage area, a parade ground, a space for soldiers to congregate for ‘social time’, a zone for the keeping of livestock, a protected camping site for a unit, a local market for troops. These uses might change as the campaign progressed and the advance needed different materials or troop deployments. The original excavator of the 1989 site suggested that it might have been a marketplace with a metalled surface, however being just 100 metres from the fortress defences it is more likely to have had a military role. One of the major problems at most legionary fortresses is identifying the location of cavalry barracks with horses and troopers sharing the same space as can be seen at auxiliary forts throughout Wales. I am interpreting the 1989 site as used by the cavalry, as there are indications of stabling. 

My next task will be examining and preparing for publication an adjacent site that was the subject of a salvage excavation in 1988 ahead of another housing estate. Hopefully it will throw up further evidence of the use of the landscape outside the fortress.

Tim Copeland

Editor's Note
The excavation was undertaken at Sandhurst Road in 1989 by Gloucester Archaeology. 
See also W. H. Manning, The Roman; 'Conquest and the Army', in The Gwent County History Vol. 1 Gwent in Prehistory and Early History. 178-180. Professor Manning states that in the early stages of the conquest Legions were subdivided between large forts called vexillation fortresses and brigaded with auxlliary units to form small battle groups. He records that Kingsholm controlled an important Severn river crossing and probably was complemented with at least one other vexillation fortress. There are three known in the Wye Valley, two at Clifford and one at Clyro. See also Tacitus, Annals 12, 38. 
For more information about Dr Tim Copeland see https://uniofglos.blog/history/dr-tim-copeland/
His latest book is 'Life in a Legionary Fortress', Amberley, 2014.

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