Pontes was a small Romano-British roadside settlement on the south bank of the Thames at modern Staines, occupied from the mid-1st century AD into the 4th century. It developed at the crossing of the Thames by the road linking Londinium with Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), the name (meaning "the bridges") indicating a multi-span timber bridge or causeway across the river and its braided channels.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Pontes functioned primarily as a transport node and minor market centre, exploiting its position at a key Thames crossing roughly a day's travel west of Londinium, and is listed as a station in the Antonine Itinerary (Iter VII). It likely served as a posting station with associated commercial and craft activity rather than as an administrative centre.
Excavations in central Staines since the 1970s (notably at Friends' Burial Ground, Elmsleigh House and Bingley Island) have revealed timber-framed strip buildings on gravel islands, ditched plots fronting the road, waterlogged timber revetments, leather and woodworking debris, and evidence for a Claudian-period origin. Finds include substantial pottery and coin assemblages, quernstones, and imported goods reflecting riverine trade, though no masonry public buildings have been identified.
Pontes was a small Romano-British roadside settlement on the south bank of the Thames at modern Staines, occupied from the mid-1st century AD into the 4th century. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Pontes 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 camp, Matthew Arnold School's playing field, Staines (2 km), Romano-British site 1000yds (910m) W of East Bedfont parish church (4.5 km), Untitled (7.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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