High Cross is identified with the Roman settlement of Venonis (Venonae), a roadside town situated at the crossroads of Watling Street and the Fosse Way on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border. Active from the mid-1st century AD through the 4th century, it functioned as a small nucleated settlement and mansio-style waystation serving travellers and traffic at one of Roman Britain's most important road junctions.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Venonis was a key node in the Roman road network, marking the meeting of two principal arterial routes and serving as a measured distance point listed in the Antonine Itinerary. Its position made it strategically important for communications, supply, and military movement between the legionary bases at Wroxeter, Chester, and the south-east.
Aerial photography and geophysical survey have revealed a roughly oval enclosed settlement of around 8-10 hectares straddling Watling Street, with evidence of strip buildings, enclosures, and a possible defensive ditch, though no large-scale modern excavation has taken place. Surface finds include coins, samian and coarse pottery, brooches, and tile, consistent with a long-lived small town of the Roman Midlands.
High Cross is identified with the Roman settlement of Venonis (Venonae), a roadside town situated at the crossroads of Watling Street and the Fosse Way on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman town at High Cross Also in WARWICKSHIRE 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 Venonis (0.4 km), Sapcote (5.3 km), Tripontium Roman station (10.9 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 town at High Cross Also in WARWICKSHIRE