Ravenglass (Glennaventa) Vicus

Vicus

Little information was available about the Roman vicus of Ravenglass prior to the 2013-2014 excavation . As is so often the case with regional trading centers protected by a permanent garrison, their civil settlements in particular expanded in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The primary function of the vicus was to supply the fort crew with daily necessities, such as: B. various materials, goods and services. The geophysical investigations made the scope of the vicus clear. It probably covered a large area and was probably inhabited from the 120th to the 4th century. To the northeast of the fortress, traces of at least two streets were found. Most of the buildings were concentrated along the road that led to Hardknott Pass. The finds of grain and fragments of glass indicate that food was processed and glass products made in the settlement. However, the focus of the craft activities was probably on metal processing, as the finds of iron slag deposits and charcoal residues suggest.

Most of the houses were of the so-called strip houses, which are typical of a Roman vicus of the 2nd century. Such buildings usually consisted of a workshop and living area and a courtyard at the rear of the building. From the area north of the fort (possibly originally an annex of the fort ), numerous fragments of slate slabs, bricks, roof tiles and wide floor tiles were found in 1925, suggesting a multi-storey building that could probably also be heated by a hypocaust, perhaps the remains of one Hostel ( Mansio ). During the construction of exploratory trenches in 2014, a furnace full of charcoal residues and a rammed earth floor were observed inside a building. There was a stone-paved courtyard in front of the house. The remains of a workshop were found in trench 2. There was evidence that a road ran between a large number of buildings with a long rectangular floor plan. Furthermore, traces of a canal lined with wood were found, probably the remains of a water pipe. A thick layer of fire indicated that the buildings were destroyed by a fire.

The exact location of the port is still unknown. For the vicus and fort residents it was both a trading place and a market place and perhaps also served as a naval base for the Classis Britannica .

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