Wickham Bushes Roman Settlement

The small settlement at Wickham Bushes was established along a minor road running from London (Londinium) to Silchester (Calleva Attrebatum) which is situated less that 400m to the south. A series of archaeological excavations and survey work has demonstrated that the settlement was occupied throughout the Roman period and included a mixture of dwellings, agricultural structures and small semi-industrial workshops. The buried remains of a number of large, multi-roomed buildings with tiled roofs have been identified. These were first built in the years immediately following the Roman invasion of AD 43 and the building of the main road. It is likely that the settlement expanded because of its association with trade along the road, and it may have had an official mansio building where messengers and imperial officials could stop to rest or change horses. Large quantities of pottery, a brooch and other artefacts suggest a series of successive phases of occupation well into the 4th century AD.

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