Charterhouse Roman Town
Charterhouse Roman Town was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset.
Its Latin name may have been Iscalis, but this is far from certain.[1] An alternative, based on inscriptions on a pig of Roman lead BRIT. EX. ARG. VEB, meaning "British (lead) from the VEB... lead-silver works" would suggest the name VEB for the site. This may explain the nearby village of Ubley, as V and U are interchangeable in Latin, Ubley may have derived from Veb-ley, and was originally a settlement where Romano-British lead miners lived.[2]
It is associated with the Iron Age hill fort, Charterhouse Camp. The Roman landscape has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[3]
Mining settlement
The settlement grew up around the north-western edge of prehistoric lead and silver mines, which were exploited by the Romans.[4] Mendip lead ore had up to 0.4% silver content, which the Romans used to pay the army.[5] Extraction is thought to have begun as early as AD 49[6] (although the evidence of dateable lead ingots found in the neighbourhood has recently been questioned.[7]) At first the lead and silver industries were tightly controlled by the Roman military (in the south-west, by the Second Legion[8]) and there was a small 'fortlet' adjoining the mines during the 1st century, which may, however, have been little more than a fortified compound for storing lead pigs.[9] After a short time, the extraction of these metals was contracted out to civilian companies, probably because of low silver content.[10] Smelting was undertaken on site where industrial workshops have been excavated,[11] and the metal exported along a minor road to the Fosse Way, and probably through a small inland port at nearby Cheddar.[8]
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre stood west of the settlement.[12] It is the only one in England to exist at a lead mine and is additional evidence of the importance of Mendip lead to the Romans.[13] It measures 32m x 24.4m and the banks for the seating survive 4.5m above the arena. It was surveyed in 1909. It was probably a place of entertainment for the soldiers at the Roman fort which was established here.[14]
See also
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References
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