Ad Ansam ("at the handle/bend") was a small Roman roadside settlement on the route between Camulodunum (Colchester) and Combretovium (near Coddenham, Suffolk), listed as the ninth station of Iter IX in the Antonine Itinerary. It is generally identified with Higham or, more commonly, with the crossing of the River Stour at Stratford St Mary in Essex/Suffolk, where the Roman road forded the river — the "bend" giving the place its name. Occupation likely spans the 1st to 4th centuries AD, typical of such Stour valley roadside settlements.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its primary role was as a road station and river crossing on the major north-east route out of Colchester, serving travellers, traffic, and probably local agricultural exchange. It was not administratively important but formed part of the network of small nucleated settlements that articulated the rural economy of northern Essex and southern Suffolk.
The precise location remains debated, and no large-scale excavation has confirmed the site definitively; surface finds, cropmarks, and stray Roman material (pottery, coins, building debris) have been recorded around Stratford St Mary and Higham, consistent with a modest roadside settlement, but no substantial structures or defences are documented.
Ad Ansam ("at the handle/bend") was a small Roman roadside settlement on the route between Camulodunum (Colchester) and Combretovium (near Coddenham, Suffolk), listed as the ninth station of Iter IX in the Antonine Itinerary. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Ad Ansam is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Col. Camulodunum (0 km), Temple of Claudius (0.2 km), SE corner of Roman town in Easthill House Gardens (0.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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