Roman town house found in remains of Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre
Comments |
A Roman town house, built in the second or early third century
AD, has been found on the site of Canterbury’s demolished Marlowe
Theatre.
Archaeological investigation has been taking place there since
2008 and has revealed mainly medieval and later remains relating to
the Dominican Friary, or Blackfriars, founded in the early 13th
century.
This part of the site was within the original precinct and
discoveries have included lengths of medieval timber revetments
lining earlier courses of the river.
However, recent work on the west side of the old theatre has
uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman building and
associated features. Although the site is not far from the
centre of the Roman town, few large scale archaeological
excavations have taken place in this area.
The site is immediately next to the branch of the River Stour
that flows through the centre of Canterbury and would have been
within the flood plain of the river. The Roman building, however,
seems to have been on an area of higher ground within the
floodplain.
Only a part of the building has been revealed as most of its
walls and internal structure had been removed by quarrying in the
medieval period or later.
It is thought the house, belonging to a fairly wealthy citizen,
was partly made from masonry, although the walls only survive to
one-and-a-half feet. Fragments of plaster found in some of the
rooms indicate that the interior was well appointed, with the walls
decorated with painted designs.
At least one room possessed an underfloor heating system, or
hypocaust, and the tile stacks which supported its suspended floor
survive in one corner of the site.
Although the area is difficult to dig due to being waterlogged
this has led to the preservation of wooden and other organic
artefacts, including the remains of a Roman shoe and a wooden
platter from one of the medieval pits that cut into the
building.
Thursday, January 21 2010
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.