Harlow Temple, situated on a hilltop at Holbrooks above the River Stort in Essex, was a Romano-Celtic sanctuary with clear Iron Age origins. Coin finds indicate cult activity from the late 1st century BC, with a substantial masonry temple of square cella-and-ambulatory plan constructed in the later 1st century AD and remaining in use into the 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
It is one of the most thoroughly investigated Romano-Celtic temples in southeastern Britain and a key example of cult continuity from the late La Tène period through the Roman occupation. Its very large coin assemblage — one of the largest from any British temple — makes it important for understanding votive practice and the economic life of rural sanctuaries in the Trinovantian/Catuvellaunian territory.
Excavations in the 1960s–70s (by the West Essex Archaeological Group, published by France and Gobel 1985) revealed the temple set within a temenos, with over 1,000 Iron Age coins, more than 2,000 Roman coins, brooches, and a fragmentary stone head, alongside evidence for pre-temple Iron Age activity including possible structures and burials. Associated finds include tile, painted wall plaster, and a probable ancillary building within the precinct.
Harlow Temple, situated on a hilltop at Holbrooks above the River Stort in Essex, was a Romano-Celtic sanctuary with clear Iron Age origins. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a sanctuary site from the Roman period in Britain.
Harlow 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 Harlow Roman temple (0.9 km), Roman villa 500m north east of Harlowbury (2.2 km), Youngsbury Roman barrows (11 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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