Nettleton Shrub was a rural temple complex in a wooded combe beside the Fosse Way in north Wiltshire, dedicated to a syncretic deity Apollo Cunomaglus ("Hound-Lord"), known from a dedicatory altar found on site. The cult focus developed from the mid-2nd century AD, reached its most elaborate form in the later 3rd century with a distinctive octagonal shrine, and continued in use—with evidence of partial Christianisation or reuse—into the late 4th and early 5th centuries.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the few securely attested Apollo cult sites in Roman Britain, Nettleton is important for the study of Romano-Celtic religious syncretism, and the hunter-god epithet suggests an association with hunting and possibly healing. Its position on the Fosse Way between Bath and Cirencester made it a wayside sanctuary serving travellers as well as the local rural population.
W. J. Wedlake's extensive excavations (1956–71) revealed a sequence of buildings around the Broadmead Brook, including the octagonal podium temple with radiating chambers, ancillary priests' lodgings, shops, and workshops, alongside coins, brooches, and the Cunomaglus altar. Finds of dog imagery and later structural modifications—possibly reflecting Christian conversion of the site—were also recorded, though some of Wedlake's phasing and interpretations have since
Nettleton Shrub was a rural temple complex in a wooded combe beside the Fosse Way in north Wiltshire, dedicated to a syncretic deity Apollo Cunomaglus ("Hound-Lord"), known from a dedicatory altar found on site. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Nettleton 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 Romano-British temple, Iron Age ditches, earthwork enclosure and associated buildings 240m and 370m north of Fosse Barn (1.6 km), North Wraxall (2.7 km), Colerne (6.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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