Time Team - Caerwent Roman Town, Monmouthshire, South Wales - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

The project aimed to carry out a limited programme of non-intrusive investigations and evaluation trenching over three days. Fieldwork consisted of seven machine excavated trial trenches as well as geophysical and topographic surveys. The geophysical survey clearly demonstrated the potential usefulness of these techniques, particularly ground penetrating radar, for providing detailed information about the below-ground remains surviving at Caerwent.

The two trenches excavated in insula I revealed parts of a large, complex, multiphase building surrounding a central courtyard with an apsidal-ended range at its eastern end, perhaps representing a private bath-house, identified by the geophysical survey. This complex was of sophisticated, Romanised character, with oak beams, tessellated and opus signinum floors, painted wall plaster and roofed with Old Red Sandstone tiles. No evidence for the date of its construction was found but coins and pottery suggest that it was occupied into the second half of the 4th century AD. There was some evidence to suggest that the building was destroyed by fire and that it was subsequently robbed.

No evidence for the street frontage was found on insula XIV, but wall footings identified in two trenches probably represented the remains of a narrow strip building, altered and perhaps re-aligned on at least two occasions. There was little evidence for the outward appearance of this structure, but numerous glass fragments and part of an opus signinum floor, probably added during the late 3rd century AD at the earliest, indicate the presence of relatively comfortable living quarters within it.

The only archaeological features located on the eastern approaches to the town consisted of a probable roadside ditch and a gravelled track or path leading towards the eastern gate. Overall, however, the Time Team evaluation successfully demonstrated the extent, character and condition of the Romano-British remains at Caerwent, showing that substantial stratified remains survive below ground.