Dorchester-on-Thames was a small walled Roman town in Oxfordshire, occupied from the mid-1st century AD (probably originating as a fort or military supply base during the conquest period) through to the late 4th/early 5th century. Sited at the confluence of the Thames and Thame, it grew into a roadside settlement of perhaps 5–6 hectares, enclosed by earthen ramparts later augmented with a stone wall, and lay on the road between Silchester (Calleva) and Alchester.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
It functioned as a minor market and route-node town serving the agriculturally rich middle Thames valley, and is notable for unusually clear evidence of continuity into the sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods — including a late Roman official-style belt fitting in a burial, suggesting the presence of late 4th-century military or administrative personnel, possibly billeted Germanic foederati.
Excavations (notably by Frere in the 1960s and more recent work by Oxford Archaeology and the Discovering Dorchester project) have revealed sections of the defences, timber and stone buildings, street frontages, and cemeteries including the well-known Dyke Hills late Roman burials with chip-carved belt fittings. The town's full plan remains poorly understood, however, as much lies beneath the medieval village and abbey precinct.
Dorchester-on-Thames was a small walled Roman town in Oxfordshire, occupied from the mid-1st century AD (probably originating as a fort or military supply base during the conquest period) through to the late 4th/early 5th century. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Dorchester-on-Thames 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 Roman town (0.2 km), Anglo-Saxon great hall complex and Roman settlement features at Long Wittenham (3 km), Romano-British settlement 520m north west of Cooks Cottages (3.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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