Listed 14 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LINCOLNSHIRE County ENGLAND" .
GAINSBOROUGH (Town) ENGLAND
ANCASTER (Town) ENGLAND
Ancasterr ("Causennae") Lincolnshire, England.
The Roman settlement at Ancaster lies 29 km S of Lincoln on Ermine Street. The
place has long been identified as the Causennae of the Antonine Itinerary, but
if the Itinerary distances are accepted Causennae should lie S of Ancaster. The
settlement lies at the junction of two important routes: the N-S ridge followed
by Ermine Street, and an E-W route through the Ancaster Gap. An Iron Age settlement
occupied the site at the time of the Roman conquest.
The first Roman occupation of Ancaster took the form of a fort, built
not long after A.D. 43 and held until ca. A.D. 70-80. Only a section of the defenses
has so far been recovered. After the withdrawal of the army unit a civilian vicus
developed, which received its own defenses, probably in the later 3d c. These
consisted of a stone wall 2.1 in wide, an earth rampart behind it, and, in the
final form, two broad ditches outside (3.6 ha). Projecting towers were built at
the angles, probably in the 4th c. Knowledge of the interior is limited. A few
pieces of religious sculpture, including a relief of the Matres, suggest a temple
or temples. Agricultural buildings are known outside the walls, and an early Anglo-Saxon
cemetery immediately outside the S defenses suggests that occupation continued
at least into the 5th c.
M. Todd, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
LINCOLN (Town) ENGLAND
Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) Lincolnshire, England.
The major part of the Roman and later development here lies on top of the escarpment
N of the Witham, though suburbs and cemeteries existed also S of the river. The
Roman name is derived from the Celtic name for a marshy place. Two major Roman
roads, Ermine Street and Fosse Way, met on the S side of the valley, across which
Ermine Street continued to Lindum and N to York. Thus Lindum's position, commanding
two of the major routes of Roman Britain, made it important in the conquest and
settlement; and Ermine Street was to the end of the Roman period the major route
from London to the N, hence Roman Lincoln's continued importance. It lay within
the lands which had belonged to the Coritani, but which under Roman rule were
administered from Leicester (Ratae Coritanorum).
Historical summary:
The history of the Roman settlement at Lincoln comprises military installations
succeeded by a colonia, one of four such chartered towns known to have existed
in the province of Britannia (the others were Colchester, Gloucester, and York).
From inscribed tombstones it is known that Legio IX Hispana and Legio II Adiutrix
served here. The rectangular legionary fortress, shown by excavation to be ca.
16.4 ha in area, occupied the hilltop. Its defenses, consisting of an earth rampart
faced and retained by timbers, have been traced on all four sides; one internal
tower of timber is known on the W side, and on the E, part of the gateway structure
has been found. Only slight traces have yet been found of the timber buildings
within the defenses. The fortress seems not to have been built until the 60s,
before which Legio IX may have been billeted in newly discovered campaign forts
in the area. But it is likely that some form of military holding was established
at Lincoln by the late 40s, perhaps an auxiliary fort.
Legio IX moved on to York in A.D. 71, and Legio II Adiutrix then briefly
occupied Lincoln before it was moved, perhaps in 74-75, to build the new fortress
at Chester. After ca. 20 years, at the end of the 1st c., a colonia was founded
on the same rectangular hilltop site. It had defenses of stone, with internal
towers added at intervals to the wall. Perhaps at the same time the town developed
down the slope towards the river. The slope is known to have been walled as well,
making an eventual defended area of 34.8 ha. Excavations have shown a sequence
of defenses down the hill: 2d c. walls were refurbished and strengthened in the
4th c., when a gate with a single roadway was created. This is now preserved and
open to the public.
Major visible remains:
The most notable remains still to be seen in the hilltop colonia are those of
the N gate, Newport Arch, which consisted originally of a central roadway 4.5
m wide, flanked by footways. It is still used today.
At the E gate, the N tower has been completely excavated and elements
of three main phases can be seen. The front range of the post-holes of the legionary
gateway, 0.3 m square, received a stone fronting in the late 1st or early 2d c.
with the foundation of the colonia. Not earlier than the 3d c. the whole gateway
was rebuilt on a monumental plan, with semicircular bastions projecting beyond
the line of the wall. In this version the gate had two roadways, and may well
have been the main gate of Lincoln by that time, if not earlier.
Parts of only one internal building within the colonia are visible
in situ: a portion of a massive colonnade preserved in a house in Bailgate on
the W side of the main Roman N-S street, in the central area. The socalled Mint
Wall, visible nearby, probably formed part of the N wall of this colonnaded building.
Architectural cornices, from demolished monumental buildings, were also found
here and are preserved in the museum with many other finds.
Other notable discoveries.
Sections of an aqueduct approaching the NE corner of the hilltop site have been
excavated. Collared pipes, sheathed with a heavy concrete jacket, carried the
water from its presumed source some 2.8 km from the town. But the gradient runs
counter to the course of the pipeline, so staged force-pumps may have been used.
A number of local pottery kilns supplying everyday needs from the
early 2d c. until the 4th are known. Something of an industrial area seems to
have grown up at Swanpool and Bootham, ca. 3.2 km SW of Lincoln, where pottery
making was concentrated in the late 3d and 4th c.
Oolitic limestone of fine quality was quarried locally; a likely source
is N of the colonia on Ermine Street where stone was later quarried for Lincoln
cathedral. Another quarry at Greetwell 2.4 km E of Lincoln is still in use, and
a large Roman house or houses have been recorded nearby.
Suburbs were strung out across the valley along Ermine Street, and
possibly also along the Fosse Way. Cemeteries are ill-defined, but military burials
have been found close to Ermine Street where it crosses the Witham valley S of
Lincoln, and civilian burials mainly W, N, and E of the walled area. Most discoveries
J.B. Whitwell, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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