Dorchester-on-Thames was a walled small town in the Upper Thames valley, occupied from the mid-1st century AD through to the end of the Roman period and beyond. It began as a probable early military site (a fort or vexillation base of the conquest period has long been suspected, though not definitively located) and developed into a roadside town of perhaps 5–6 hectares within its defences, situated on the road from Silchester (*Calleva*) to Alchester and on to the Midlands, at the confluence of the Thames and the Thame.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The town served as a local market and administrative centre for the surrounding rural landscape of the Upper Thames, an area densely settled with villas and farmsteads. Its continuity is particularly important: Dorchester is one of the relatively few Romano-British towns where there is convincing evidence for transition into the sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, later becoming the seat of the West Saxon bishopric in 635.
Excavations, including those by Frere in the 1960s and more recent work by the Dorchester-on-Thames Project (Oxford University), have revealed earthen ramparts later fronted in stone, timber and stone buildings, street frontages, and evidence
Dorchester-on-Thames was a walled small town in the Upper Thames valley, occupied from the mid-1st century AD through to the end of the Roman period and beyond. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman town 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 Dorchester-on-Thames (0.2 km), Anglo-Saxon great hall complex and Roman settlement features at Long Wittenham (2.9 km), Romano-British settlement 520m north west of Cooks Cottages (3.2 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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