Durocornovium was a roadside settlement (vicus) at Wanborough, Wiltshire, situated at the junction of Ermine Street (running south from Cirencester/Corinium toward Silchester/Calleva) and the road east to Speen and west toward Bath. Occupation appears to have begun in the later 1st century AD and continued into the late 4th century, with the settlement reaching its greatest extent in the 2nd–3rd centuries when it covered some 25–30 hectares of strip buildings, yards, and enclosures flanking the road on low-lying ground near the River Cole.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
It functioned as a significant nodal settlement on the road network — a posting station and local market serving traffic between Corinium, Calleva, and Aquae Sulis — and is one of the larger small towns of the upper Thames region, though it lacks evidence for formal defences or major public buildings.
Excavations by Anthony and Penelope Phillips in the 1970s, together with aerial photography and more recent geophysical survey, have revealed timber and stone-founded strip buildings, metalled streets, wells, and substantial quantities of coins, pottery, and metalwork; waterlogged deposits in the valley bottom have preserved leather and timber. No temple, mansio, or bath complex has been securely identified, though the settlement's size implies such facilities likely existed.
Durocornovium was a roadside settlement (vicus) at Wanborough, Wiltshire, situated at the junction of Ermine Street (running south from Cirencester/Corinium toward Silchester/Calleva) and the road east to Speen and west toward Bath. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Durocornovium 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 Site of Roman town, W of Wanborough House (0.5 km), Roman villa 530m west of Stanton House (5 km), Roman rural sanctuary on Groundwell Ridge, east of Lady Lane (6.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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