This site, located near Hassocks in West Sussex on the line of the London-to-Brighton Roman road, represents a roadside settlement that likely functioned as a mansio or posting station serving traffic between Londinium and the south coast. Activity at the broader Hassocks Roman settlement spans the later 1st to 4th centuries AD, with evidence suggesting it was a modest but persistent waystation rather than a major urban centre.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Positioned at a natural break in the journey across the Weald and just north of the gap through the South Downs, the site would have provided overnight accommodation, fresh horses, and refreshment for officials and travellers using the cursus publicus. Its location also placed it within an agriculturally productive zone with links to the villa estates of the coastal plain and the iron-working industry of the Weald.
The wider Hassocks area is best known for a substantial Romano-British cremation cemetery excavated in the early 20th century, which produced large quantities of pottery, glass, brooches, and coins indicating sustained occupation. The mansio itself is poorly characterised on the ground, with its identification resting on roadside topography, surface finds, and inference from comparable stations rather than from extensive structural excavation.
This site, located near Hassocks in West Sussex on the line of the London-to-Brighton Roman road, represents a roadside settlement that likely functioned as a mansio or posting station serving traffic between Londinium and the south coast. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a mansio / station site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman mansio and settlement, 535m north-east of Penn House is classified as a Roman mansio / station — 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 Hardham (0.7 km), Pulborough (2.8 km), Lickfold (3.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Roman mansio and settlement, 535m north-east of Penn House