Durnovaria (modern Dorchester, Dorset) was the civitas capital of the Durotriges, established in the mid-to-late 1st century AD on a site near the conquered hillfort of Maiden Castle. It flourished from c. AD 70 into the 4th century as a planned town of roughly 32 hectares, enclosed by earthen ramparts in the later 2nd century and a stone wall added subsequently, with a regular street grid, public buildings, town houses, and suburban cemeteries.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the administrative and economic centre for the Durotriges of central Dorset, Durnovaria anchored Roman authority in a region that had resisted the conquest, and it controlled a hinterland rich in villas, the Purbeck stone and shale industries, and the Dorset black-burnished ware (BB1) production that supplied military markets across Britain.
Excavations have revealed substantial townhouses with mosaics (notably the Colliton Park house, preserved in situ), sections of the defences and aqueduct (a c. 19 km open leat from the Frome), the Maumbury Rings amphitheatre converted from a Neolithic henge, and extensive late Roman cemeteries at Poundbury, where over 1,400 burials — many in lead or gypsum-packed coffins — have informed understanding of late Romano-British Christian communities.
Durnovaria (modern Dorchester, Dorset) was the civitas capital of the Durotriges, established in the mid-to-late 1st century AD on a site near the conquered hillfort of Maiden Castle. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Durno(no)varia 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 amphitheater at Durno(no)varia (0.3 km), Outer defences of Roman town, W of St Genevieve's Convent (0.4 km), Dorchester Roman walls (0.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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