Verulamium

Verulamium lies southwest of modern St Albans in Hertfordshire. The Roman town grew beside the River Ver on land that had once held the Catuvellauni tribal centre called Verlamion. Watling Street, the main Roman road, once ran through the town before medieval builders shifted its course to serve St Albans. By the early 3rd century it covered about 125 acres behind a deep ditch and stone wall. The first British Christian martyr, Saint Alban, met his end here in the 3rd century. The town contained a forum, basilica and theatre, all rebuilt in stone after fires in 155 and about 250. Boudica’s Iceni destroyed the place in AD 61, leaving a layer of black ash that archaeologists still recognise. A Latin inscription on a wax tablet found in London shows a contract for grain transport from Verulamium in AD 62. The site also holds one of the few surviving Roman inscriptions in Britain, found in the forum ruins. Today parts of the Roman walls and a hypocaust survive under mosaic floors. The theatre, fully excavated and run by the Gorhambury Estate, is the only Roman stage theatre in Britain. Verulamium Park covers much of the ancient city, while the Verulamium Museum on its edge displays mosaics, tools and coins from the site. Nearby, medieval St Albans Abbey stands on ground once used as a Roman cemetery, and Roman bricks still appear in the abbey’s walls.