| Venta Silurum | |
|---|---|
 The remains of the town wall | |
| Location | Monmouthshire,Wales, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°36′40″N2°46′05″W / 51.611°N 2.768°W /51.611; -2.768 |
| OS grid reference | ST469905 |
  Location inMonmouthshire | |
Venta Silurum was atown inRoman Britain (Britannia). The nameVenta Silurum means "the town of the Silurēs", with the Silurēs being a powerful and warlike tribe. Today, it consists of remains in the village ofCaerwent inMonmouthshire, southeastWales. Much of it has beenarchaeologically excavated and the nearbyNewport Museum has many of the finds on display.
Venta was established by theRomans in around AD 75[1] as an administrative centre for the defeatedSilures tribe inRoman Wales. Venta Silurum seems to mean "Market town of the Silures" (cf.Venta Belgarum andVenta Icenorum). This is confirmed by inscriptions on the "Civitas Silurum" stone, now on display in the parish church.[2] The town, which was located on theRoman road betweenIsca Augusta (Caerleon) andGlevum (Gloucester) and close to theSevern Estuary, was (in contrast with nearby "Isca") essentially established for civilian administration rather than for military purposes.
Initially Venta had aforum andbasilica. By the early 2nd century during the reign ofHadrian, thecivitas had begun construction work on a market place and developing centre of local government. Public baths and shops, including ablacksmiths, were built about the same time. Remains of farms and dwellings, some with courtyards, have also been excavated.
ARoman temple, perhaps dedicated toMars and theCeltic godOcelus, has been identified on the site. A bowl with achi-rho symbol shows thatearly Christian worship had begun in the late 3rd century.[3]
The town lacked substantial defences until the mid 4th century when stonetown walls were built. A small garrison may have been based in the town during this period.[3] Large sections of thedefensive walls are still in place, rising up to 5 metres (16 ft) in height in places. The walls have been described as "easily the most impressive town defence to survive from Roman Britain, and in its freedom from later rebuilding one of the most perfectly preserved in Northern Europe."[4]
Following thewithdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, the town remained occupied until at least the mid-5th century.Early Christian worship was still established. The town might have had abishop.[3] According to traditional accounts in theVitae Sanctorum Britanniae, amonastery was founded bySaint Tatheus in about the 6th century.[5] The site of the present church occupies part of an early Christiancemetery.
The nameVenta gave its name to the emergingKingdom of Gwent (called initially "Kingdom of Guenta"), and the town itself became known asCaer-went or "the castra/fort of Venta/Gwent". Tradition holds thatCaradog Freichfras of Gwent moved his court from Caerwent toPortskewett around the 6th century.[3]
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In 1881 a portion of a highly intricate colouredfloor mosaic orTessellated pavement, depicting different types of fish, was unearthed during excavations in the garden of a cottage.[6] In 1901 House VIII South was excavated and two mosaic floors found. One was the Four Seasons mosaic now in the Newport museum.
In 2008, a dig involvingWessex Archaeology and volunteers from the local Chepstow Archaeology Society, found a row of narrow shop buildings and a villa with painted walls,frescoes ofRoman art andmosaic floors. Among theartefacts excavated were abonepenknife hilt depicting twogladiators fighting,coins,Roman glassware,ceramics, human and animal bones,lead patches used for repairing water pipes and pieces of mosaic.[7]These excavations featured inChannel 4'sTime Team programme, broadcast on 25 January 2009.[8] In 2010 a programme of archaeological work carried out by Monmouth Archaeology made a number of finds.
Modern houses are built on top of half the site of the old Roman market place. The ruins of several Roman buildings are still visible, including the foundations of a 4th-centurytemple.[9] The rudimentary quality of most of the houses, few of which had mosaic orhypocaust-heated floors, indicates that, although a large settlement, Caerwent did not attain the importance or sophistication of other Romano-British tribal capitals.[10]
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