Manduessedum

Manduessedum was a Roman fort and later a small civilian town in Warwickshire, near the modern village of Mancetter and the town of Atherstone. The name comes from a Romano-Celtic word meaning ‘chariot’, showing the area’s Gaulish roots. The fort stood on Watling Street, the great Roman road, where it crossed the River Anker. It was built about AD 50 and may have been the site of Boudica’s final battle in AD 60 or 61. The Roman general Suetonius Paullinus defeated the British rebels there. After the army left, the site became a busy pottery centre. Up to seventy kilns have been found, making mixing bowls called mortaria. A Roman villa once stood nearby, and traces of its walls remain. The whole area is now protected as a scheduled monument. Pottery fragments and tools show how important the town was in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Visitors walk over grassy fields where the fort once stood. Low earthworks mark the lines of old roads and buildings. The River Anker flows close by, just as it did in Roman times. A few stone fragments lie half-buried in the soil, while information boards explain what once happened here. The quiet countryside hides the remains of a busy past.