Silchester

Nearest town:
Basingstoke (10km SSE)
OS reference:
SU639623
OS sheet:
175
Latitude:
51° 21' 20.26 N
Longitude:
1° 4' 55.99 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Silchester (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by jimit

Where the modern road cuts through the bank.

Image credit: Jimit March 10
jimit
jimit Mar 29, 2010

Articles

Silchester

C
CARL Oct 5, 2010

Visited 30.9.10
A very easy site to access although the sign posting to Silchester Roman town could be a bit better! Follow the E.H. signs towards Silchester Roman site and park in the large free car park. In the corner of the car park you will see a wooden gate with free information sheets in a little plastic holder attached to the gate.
Beyond the gate the path takes you into the remains of the Roman town. Along this path, to your left amongst the trees, are the remains of the Iron Age settlement. A fairly well preserved bank / ditch are clearly seen and when standing at the bottom of the ditch the bank is well over head height.
For those interested the Roman site itself is worth a visit as is the medieval church at the other end of the site.

Silchester

jimit
jimit Mar 24, 2010

With the risk of criticism from some quarters, I think that this site should be included as its early history certainly falls within the TMA remit.

The late IA town’s defensive earthworks covered almost as much area as the later (and more famous) Roman town. They are best seen on the N side by the car park where the ditch and bank are well preserved.

silchester.rdg.ac.uk/guide/preroman

The Atrebates who lived here were a sophisticated lot who traded extensively with the Roman Empire and their “Kings” minted coins to claim their authority.

Passing over the later period, which of course is of more interest to Romanophiles, we come to the problem of why it was abandoned.
It had great trade and road links, a fertile hinterland which was well watered and a presumably stable and integrated population. Why didn’t it become another Winchester?
The later pages of the University of Reading’s website addresses these problems.

silchester.rdg.ac.uk/guide/end

Access
For such a famous site the access and information is rather poor.Go slowly down the narrow roads as the signs suddenly spring up and the car park on the N is very easy to miss. There are pamphlets available there.

Sites within 20km of Silchester

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