City of the Dead: Calleva Atrebatum

Page 3 of 8

• 1. The lost town
• 2. Celtic roots
• 3. Our introduction to Calleva
• 4. Early excavations
• 5. Immigrants from France?
• 6. The Roman town
• 7. 6th-century abondonment
• 8. Find out more
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Our introduction to Calleva

It had long been known that a major Roman town existed at Silchester before excavations began in earnest in the 1860s. Initially these were undertaken for the landowner, the Duke of Wellington, by the rector of the nearby village of Stratfield Saye.

The Reverend James Joyce was an acute observer and recorder of the archaeological record, and made many important discoveries - and his work at Silchester set the scene for the Society of Antiquaries of London, which undertook a 20-year programme of excavation from 1890. Its aim, to reveal the complete plan of the Roman town, was extraordinarily ambitious.

'80-90 per cent of the site was not excavated by the Victorians, and survives intact.'

Nevertheless, by 1909, the objective of excavating the entirety of the area within the Roman town walls had been accomplished, and the plan of the Roman town has since become one of the familiar landmarks of Roman Britain.

For almost all the rest of the 20th century it was believed that there was little more to be gained from excavating within the walls. The re-excavation of the early Christian Church, for example, in 1961, appeared to confirm that the first excavation had been complete, and added little new information.

In fact this was very far from the truth and it is now safe to say that 80-90 per cent of the site was not excavated by the Victorians, and survives intact. This is certainly the conclusion of the ongoing excavation under the auspices of the University of Reading.

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