
Margidunum was a Roman settlement on the
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...
at Castle Hill near present-day
Bingham, in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, England. The site is a protected
Scheduled Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
.
Description
Margidunum in Latin means 'marly fort' (
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
M ...
is a lime-rich clay soil).
However, archaeologist Felix Oswald expected that the Romans would have adopted an existing place name and he determined its Celtic meaning to be "the fort of the king's plain", the raised ground being a suitable position for the hill-fort of the king of the
Coritani tribe.
The
Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...
, a 2nd-century Roman register of places and roads, (Iter Britanniarum VI and VIII) locates Margidunum as MARGIDVNO midway between
Ratae (
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
) and
Lindum (
Lincoln) on the Fosse Way. Finds of military equipment established that it was initially a military post in about 55–60 AD, although no parts of a fort structure have been found. Forts were sited at close intervals along the Fosse Way to protect the Roman territory from the hostile
Brigantes
The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geog ...
and
Iceni
The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the ar ...
tribes.
A civilian settlement then developed in about 70–80 AD on either side of the Fosse Way, indicated by several simple rectangular buildings along about a 1 km stretch of the road. Two Roman villas have been found within 3 km of the settlement, as well as Roman farms in the surrounding area. A
rhomboid
Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled.
The terms "rhomboid" and "parallelogram" are often erroneously conflated with each oth ...
-shaped earthwork defence was built in the late 2nd century around the camp, enclosing about 7 or 8 acres. A stone wall nearly 3m wide was later built in front of the earth rampart, with two ditches beyond it. The fort was protected to the south and east by marshland. The site remained occupied until about 500 AD.
Investigations
In 1722
William Stukeley
William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...
visited the site and documented, in his 1724 book ''Itinerarium Curiosum'', his observations of Roman foundations of walls, floors of houses and regularly-spaced oak posts''.
'' In 1896 'Castle Hill Close' field on the 'Foss Road' was reported as the supposed site of the important Roman station of Margidunum, with Roman pottery and coins found there.
Excavations were conducted by
Nottingham University
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
in the 1920s by
Felix Oswald, and again in the 1960s by
Malcolm Todd
Malcolm Todd (27 November 19396 June 2013) was an English archaeologist. Born in Durham, England, the son of a miner, Todd was educated in classics and classical archaeology at St David's College, Lampeter and Brasenose College, Oxford. He s ...
. Oswald found prehistoric artefacts including a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
flint arrowhead, polished stone axes and bronze socketed
celts
The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
. The 20th-century excavations discovered the stone walls and stone slab floors or beaten clay floors of over 20 Roman buildings at the site. Foundations of three large adjacent buildings show that they were the most elaborate at the site. Numerous fragments of window glass, roof tiles and evidence of underfloor heating (floors raised on pillars and box flue tiles) indicate that one of these buildings was a bathhouse. It would have had stone walls, whereas the other buildings were timber-framed with
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite material, composite building method in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called "wattle (construction), wattle" is "daubed" with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, and ...
walls. The largest building had no internal divisions, so it was likely to be a public building. Fragments of decorated wall plaster, mosaic floor tiles, pottery, a grid iron, charred timbers, several wells, water tanks and coins were also discovered. The oldest
Claudian
Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (Greek: Κλαυδιανός; ), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almo ...
well was lined with oak planks encased in clay, whereas the later wells were stone-lined. The wells drew water from the underground source of the nearby Newton Springs.
Oswald identified the route of two other roads crossing the camp. He deduced that one of these was probably used to transport lead from the
Lutudarum lead-mines in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, because a large lead ingot inscribed C.IVL.PROTI.BRIT.LVT.EX.ARG. was found in 1848 at Hexgrave Park near
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
.
The site of Margidunum now lies mostly across three fields but it is partially covered by a roundabout built in 1968
Nearby sites
The Roman fort of ''Ad Pontem'' (at
East Stoke near
Newark) was 10 miles further north along the Fosse Way. It was also a small 1st-century fort with a similar rhomboid-shaped earthwork enclosure. A settlement developed on the site and Roman occupation continued into the 4th century. Two
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
huts were also found there.
Roman camps have also been discovered at nearby
Calverton and
Farnsfield, and they too are Scheduled Monuments.
References
{{Reflist
Roman towns and cities in England
Scheduled monuments in Nottinghamshire
Archaeological sites in Nottinghamshire