More information : ILCHESTER ROMAN TOWN. DEFENCES.
The Roman settlement with its surroundings, about 40 acres in all,
was enclosed by a rectangular earthen rampart with outer ditch,
traces of which can still be seen in the fields NE. of the Barton and
Free Street. These defences were deliberately levelled between about
AD.150 and 200, and in the garden of Ivel House there was evidence
that two houses were built over the levelled defences. The
long-abandoned earthen rampart was superseded late in the 4th century
by a stone-built town wall between three and four feet thick,
enclosing an area of about 32 acres. (1)
Excavations in the rectory garden in 1969 revealed foundations of the
Roman town wall and a gate-tower, the wall line being north of the
south wall of the town as shown by the Ordnance Survey, which a
section showed to be of Civil War date. Coins indicate a 4th cent.
date for the masonry wall; the clay bank behind is undated. (2)
Excavations on the western defences of the Roman town showed that
they lay within about 25 metres of the supposed line of the Fosse
Way, less west than the line of the town wall as shown by the
Ordnance Survey. The bank behind the wall, previously dated late 2nd
cent. or early 3rd cent. was seen to have two phases. A simple
sloping bank of clay in the first period had been reconstructed with
a palisade along its brow which was tied back to posts set in the
rear of the rampart at a date before the 4th cent. construction of
the wall. (3)
The Roman wall and gate tower found in Casey's 1969 excavation lay
under what is now the south end of the bungalow 'Briley' at ST 5223
2247. This puts the line of RR 47 slightly west of the modern road
but on its direct alignment from the south. According to Mr R H
Leech, (a) who was present at the excavation and who indicated the
site, the wall had been robbed right down to its footings and only a
segment of the presumed gate-tower was reveled.
The approximate site of Casey's 1970 excavation was indicated by Mr
Hayward, (b) at ST 52082262, at the rear of Eastern Stores. Nothing
is now visible.
These pieces of firm evidence together with ground observation
indicate that the course of the wall as published by OS cannot be
susbstantiated. (4)
The position of the Roman town wall was found, from topographic
observation and excavation (the latter only apparently in two small
areas, at the south gate and in the orchard NE of Kingsham House),
to be well within the previously assumed line. See Map Diagram. (5)
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