The Harlow Roman temple was a Romano-Celtic temple situated on a hilltop at Holbrooks, overlooking the River Stort in Essex. Built in the late 1st century AD on a site of pre-existing Iron Age religious activity, it consisted of a square cella surrounded by an ambulatory within a temenos enclosure, and remained in use until the late 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The temple is one of the most important rural cult sites in south-east Britain, demonstrating clear continuity from Late Iron Age (Trinovantian) ritual practice into the Roman period, and likely served as a regional sanctuary drawing pilgrims from across the Stort valley and beyond.
Excavations by the West Essex Archaeological Group in the 1960s–80s revealed the temple plan, ancillary buildings, and an exceptionally rich assemblage including over 1,000 Iron Age coins (notably Cunobelin issues), Roman coins numbering several thousand, brooches, and a fragmentary stone head interpreted as a deity. The finds suggest a long-lived votive tradition, though the identity of the presiding deity remains unknown.
The Harlow Roman temple was a Romano-Celtic temple situated on a hilltop at Holbrooks, overlooking the River Stort in Essex. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Harlow Roman temple is classified as a Roman temple — 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 (0.9 km), Roman villa 500m north east of Harlowbury (1.4 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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