Ad Pontem ("at the bridge") was a small Roman settlement on the Fosse Way in Nottinghamshire, situated where the road crossed the River Trent near East Stoke. It began in the mid-1st century AD as a military fortlet or signal station guarding the river crossing, and developed into a roadside civilian settlement (a small vicus or way-station) that remained occupied through much of the Roman period into the 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Named in the Antonine Itinerary (Iter VI and VIII), Ad Pontem was one of a chain of posting stations along the Fosse Way between Margidunum (Castle Hill, Bingham) and Crococalana (Brough), serving travellers, traffic, and local exchange at a strategic river crossing. Its primary importance was logistical — controlling the Trent crossing on one of Britain's principal trunk roads.
Aerial photography and limited excavation, notably Malcolm Todd's work in the 1960s at Thorpe-by-Newark, have revealed successive defensive enclosures (a small early fort or fortlet with ditches), timber buildings, and later civilian structures along the road frontage, along with pottery, coins, and burials of 2nd–4th-century date. The site has not been extensively excavated and much remains known only through cropmarks and surface finds.
Ad Pontem ("at the bridge") was a small Roman settlement on the Fosse Way in Nottinghamshire, situated where the road crossed the River Trent near East Stoke. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Ad Pontem 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 Thurgarton (5.5 km), Southwell (6.2 km), Car Colston (8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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