The Roman building at Borough Hill, Daventry, sits within the ramparts of a substantial Iron Age multivallate hillfort overlooking the upper Nene valley. Excavations in the 19th century revealed a masonry structure with hypocaust and painted wall plaster, variously interpreted as a small villa or, given its hilltop setting within a pre-existing sacred or defensive enclosure, a Romano-Celtic shrine. Activity appears to span the 2nd to 4th centuries AD.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
If a shrine, it fits a recognised pattern in the East Midlands of Roman cult sites reoccupying Iron Age hillforts (compare Hunsbury or the temple at Brigstock), suggesting continuity of a sacred place. Its commanding position over the surrounding landscape would have suited either a votive function or a high-status rural residence exploiting earlier ritual associations.
Antiquarian excavations by Baker in the 1820s recorded tessellated pavements, painted plaster, a hypocaust, coins, pottery and a possible burial; the records are limited and finds dispersed, leaving the building's plan and function unresolved. No modern open-area excavation has clarified whether the structure is domestic or religious, and the case for a shrine rests largely on its topographic setting rather than diagnostic ritual finds.
The Roman building at Borough Hill, Daventry, sits within the ramparts of a substantial Iron Age multivallate hillfort overlooking the upper Nene valley. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a shrine site from the Roman period in Britain.
Daventry is classified as a Roman shrine — 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 Borough Hill: two Iron Age hillforts and a defended enclosure, two Bronze Age barrows, a Roman building complex and barrow cemetery (1.5 km), Bannaventa (5.5 km), Watling Street Roman Road (10 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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