Bourton Bridge was a small Roman roadside settlement on the Fosse Way at the crossing of the River Dikler, near Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. It appears to have been active from the later 1st century AD through to the 4th century, functioning as a minor nucleated settlement serving travellers on the Fosse Way and the agricultural hinterland of the upper Thames/Windrush valley, in a landscape densely populated with villas (notably Bourton-on-the-Water and Wycomb/Andoversford nearby).
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its significance lies in its position on the Fosse Way at a river crossing, making it part of the chain of small roadside settlements (along with sites like Wycomb and Dorn) that articulated traffic, exchange, and local administration in the rural Cotswolds, an area noted for its prosperous villa economy.
Evidence includes coins, pottery (including Severn Valley wares and samian), tile, and structural debris recovered through fieldwalking, metal-detecting and limited excavation in the vicinity of the bridge crossing, indicating occupation of some duration; however, no large-scale modern excavation has been published, and the settlement's full plan, extent, and internal organisation remain poorly understood.
Bourton Bridge was a small Roman roadside settlement on the Fosse Way at the crossing of the River Dikler, near Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Bourton Bridge Roman settlement 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 Bourton-on-the-Water (0.9 km), Chessels Roman site (2.8 km), New Court Ground Roman villa (S of new buildings) (3.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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