The walls of Venta Silurum enclose the civitas capital of the Silures, a roughly rectangular circuit of about 44 acres (17.8 ha) in the southern Welsh borderlands. The masonry walls, faced in local Old Red Sandstone with a rubble core, were raised in the later 3rd century CE over an earlier late 2nd-century earthen rampart and ditch, with projecting polygonal bastions added on the south and (less completely) north walls in the mid-to-late 4th century to accommodate artillery. They survive in places to over 5 m in height, making them the most complete Roman town defences in Britain.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Venta Silurum was the administrative centre established to romanise the conquered Silures, replacing the legionary regime at nearby Isca (Caerleon) as the focus of civilian government in south-east Wales. The investment in stone walls and later bastions reflects both the town's civic status and the heightened security concerns of late Roman Britain, particularly along the Severn estuary, which was vulnerable to Irish raiding.
Excavations from the Edwardian campaigns of Ashby, Hudd and Martin through to Nash-Williams and the more recent work by Brewer and the Caerwent Research Committee have traced the full circuit, the south and north gates with their flanking towers, and the sequence from earthwork to wall to bastion. Within the walls, extensive evidence of a forum-basilica, a
The walls of Venta Silurum enclose the civitas capital of the Silures, a roughly rectangular circuit of about 44 acres (17.8 ha) in the southern Welsh borderlands. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a city wall site from the Roman period in Britain.
Walls of Caerwent (Venta Silurum) is classified as a Roman city wall — a military 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 Venta (0 km), Carrow Hill Roman fort (3.9 km), Great Bulmore (11 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Walls of Caerwent (Venta Silurum)