The Romano-Celtic temple southwest of Keysley Farm lies on the chalk downland of south-west Wiltshire, near the Wiltshire-Dorset-Somerset border. It is identified as a square or rectangular masonry temple of standard Romano-Celtic plan (a cella surrounded by an ambulatory), of a type widespread in southern Britain from the late 1st to the 4th century AD. The site is rural and isolated, characteristic of the many small downland shrines of the region rather than an urban or major sanctuary complex.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The temple reflects the persistence of native religious practice within a Romanised architectural framework in the rural hinterland between the small towns of the upper Wylye valley and the wider Cranborne Chase landscape. Such hilltop or downland shrines often served dispersed farming communities and may have marked traditional cult places associated with springs, boundaries, or pre-Roman ritual foci.
The site is known principally from earthwork survey, surface finds, and aerial evidence rather than full excavation; no detailed modern excavation report is published, and the dating relies largely on associated Romano-British pottery and the building's plan-form. Beyond the identification of the temple footprint and scatter material, little specific artefactual or structural detail is on record for this particular site.
The Romano-Celtic temple southwest of Keysley Farm lies on the chalk downland of south-west Wiltshire, near the Wiltshire-Dorset-Somerset border. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-Celtic temple 300m south west of Keysley Farm 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 Section of Roman road on Pertwood Down (2.7 km), Roman Villa at Brixton Deverill (3.8 km), Romano-Celtic temple and late prehistoric midden immediately south of Woodcombe Wood, 1.1km north east of Dairy Farm (4.6 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 Romano-Celtic temple 300m south west of Keysley Farm