Calleva Atrebatum

Calleva Atrebatum was an Iron Age oppidum and later a Roman walled town in southern Britain. It stands on the site of the modern village of Silchester in Hampshire, about 1.6 kilometres west of the village centre. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin sits just inside the ancient walls, while the amphitheatre lies just outside in the adjoining parish of Mortimer West End. Most of the ruins lie within the civil parish of Silchester itself. The whole site falls under the local authority of Basingstoke and Deane. The settlement began as the capital of the Atrebates tribe before becoming a major Roman town. Coins bearing the name Commius show he established his power here after moving from Gaul. Archaeologists have uncovered roundhouses, wells and streets dating from the 1st century BC. Imported goods such as olive oil amphorae and fine pottery prove its high status. By the third century the town had grown to nearly ten thousand people and boasted public baths, a mansio and an amphitheatre. Roads radiated from Calleva to London, Bath and Salisbury, making it a key crossroads. Visitors today see grassy fields inside the earthen walls and ruined stone defences around the edge. The amphitheatre, built about AD 70–80, still shows its elliptical shape and entrances. A small medieval church stands in one corner of the enclosure. A spring inside the walls once fed the Roman baths and now flows south-east to join Silchester Brook. The site remains largely undisturbed, with only the earthworks and walls marking the outline of the ancient town.