Charterhouse (Roman town)

Charterhouse was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset.

Roman lead mines at Charterhouse, Somerset

Its Latin name may have been Iscalis, but this is far from certain.[1] Based on inscriptions on a pig of Roman lead BRIT. EX. ARG. VEB, meaning "British (lead) from the VEB... lead-silver works", the Roman name has been reconstructed as Vebriacum (with Iscalis more plausibly placed at Cheddar).[2]

It is associated with the Iron Age hill fort, Charterhouse Camp. The Roman landscape has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[3]

Mining settlement
Site of Roman fort

The settlement grew up around the north-western edge of prehistoric lead and silver mines, which were exploited by the Romans.[4] Mendip lead ore had up to 0.4% silver content, which the Romans used to pay the army.[5] Extraction is thought to have begun as early as AD 49[6] (although the evidence of dateable lead ingots found in the neighbourhood has recently been questioned.[7]) At first the lead and silver industries were tightly controlled by the Roman military (in the south-west, by the Second Legion[8]) and there was a small 'fortlet' adjoining the mines during the 1st century, which may, however, have been little more than a fortified compound for storing lead pigs.[9] After a short time, the extraction of these metals was contracted out to civilian companies, probably because of low silver content.[10] Smelting was undertaken on site where industrial workshops have been excavated,[11] and the metal exported along a minor road to the Fosse Way, and probably through a small inland port at nearby Cheddar.[8]

Amphitheatre
View of the ancient enclosure and site of Roman town

An amphitheatre stood west of the settlement.[12] It is the only one in England to exist at a lead mine and is additional evidence of the importance of Mendip lead to the Romans.[13] It measures 32m x 24.4m and the banks for the seating survive 4.5m above the arena. It was surveyed in 1909. It was probably a place of entertainment for the soldiers at the Roman fort which was established here.[14]

See also

References
  1. Rivet, A. L. F.; Smith, Colin (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. London: B. T. Batsford.
  2. Costen, Michael (1992). The Origins of Somerset. Origins of the Shire. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-7190-3675-5.
  3. Firth, Hannah (2007). Mendip from the air. Taunton: South West Heritage Trust. ISBN 978-0-86183-390-0.
  4. "Charterhouse on Mendip Roman Mining Settlement". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. Elkington, H D H (1976). "The Mendip Lead Industry". The Roman West Country: Classical Culture and Celtic Society.
  6. Havinden, Michael (1981). The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-340-20116-9.
  7. Whittick, G. Clement (1982). "Roman Lead-Mining on Mendip and in North Wales". Britannia. 13.
  8. Aston, Mick; Burrow, Ian (1982). The Archaeology of Somerset. Taunton: Somerset County Council.
  9. De la Bedoyere, Guy (2006). Roman Britain: A New History. London: Thames & Hudson.
  10. "Major Romano-British Settlement Charterhouse on Mendip, Avon". Roman Britain.
  11. "Charterhouse". Big Roman Dig. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  12. "Monument No. 194337". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  13. Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 978-0-85033-461-6.
  14. Adkins, Lesley and Roy (1992). A field Guide to Somerset Archeology. Stanbridge: Dovecote press. pp. 37–39. ISBN 0-946159-94-7.

51.3023°N 2.7150°W / 51.3023; -2.7150

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