The Coleshill sanctuary in Warwickshire was a long-lived rural cult site situated near the Roman road network of the north Midlands, with origins in the later Iron Age as a circular timber shrine and continuing into the Romano-British period in two successive phases. The Roman-period sanctuary comprised a rectangular walled temenos enclosing two shrines, likely active from the later 1st through the 3rd or 4th century AD, fitting the regional pattern of Romano-Celtic temple complexes in the West Midlands.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site demonstrates clear continuity of sacred place from the pre-Roman Iron Age into the Romanised period, a relatively rare and important survival that illustrates the persistence of indigenous cult practice within a Romanised architectural framework. It is also one of the few substantial religious sites known from the territory of the Corieltauvi/Dobunni borderland in this part of the Midlands.
Excavations in the late 1970s by the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society identified the circular Iron Age shrine beneath the later structures and traced the walled Romano-British enclosure with its paired shrines; reported finds included a substantial assemblage of Roman coins and brooches consistent with votive deposition. The specific dedication of the cult is not securely known, and full publication of the excavation has been limited, so much of the detailed phasing and finds assemblage remains incompletely disseminated.
The Coleshill sanctuary in Warwickshire was a long-lived rural cult site situated near the Roman road network of the north Midlands, with origins in the later Iron Age as a circular timber shrine and continuing into the Romano-British period in two successive phases. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a sanctuary site from the Roman period in Britain.
Coleshill is classified as a Roman sanctuary — a religious 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 Manduessedum (14.2 km), Manduessedum Roman villa and settlement with associated industrial complex (14.7 km), Metchley Fort (16.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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