: The Romans

Mass produced Pottery in Roman Wales

Jar, bowl and flagon in Caerleon red-slipped ware. Soil conditions have all but destroyed the red-slipped surfaces, however, substantial patches still survive on the flagon at the rear of this group.

Study of a unique type of pottery from the Roman fortress at Caerleon, south Wales, sheds light on the relationship between local civilians and the army in Roman Wales.

Pottery was a mass-produced commodity in the Roman world and provides an important resource for archaeologists researching this period.

Different fashions in the shapes and fabrics of Roman pottery allow archaeologists to identify pottery industries: their production areas, trade routes, and date their rise and fall. Wales was home to several of these pottery industries, one of which has been the subject of study and debate since the late 1920s.

Pottery at Caerleon

Sir Mortimer Wheeler's excavations at the Caerleon Roman amphitheatre.

It was during the excavations at the Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon that the pioneering archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler first identified a group of fine, well made pottery including jugs, bowls, plates, and beakers. Many of these seemed to imitate the forms of metal and samian pottery vessels imported from the continent.

Since Caerleon was home to the second Augustan legion it seemed reasonable to assume that these pots were directly linked to the Roman army.

Roman tableware

The kiln at Abernant during excavation at the Celtic Manor resort in 1996. The pottery to be fired would be stacked on a fired clay floor over the pit in the centre of the image. Photo © Peter Webster.

Wheeler believed he had discovered the tableware used by the legion in the 2nd century AD.

Further excavations have found this type of pottery at Roman sites in and around Caerleon. With so much being discovered, it seemed obvious that it had been produced locally, and it became known as Caerleon Ware. The question was where?

It took another seventy years of work at Caerleon before this question was answered on the Celtic Manor golf course 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north-east of the fortress.

Celtic Manor Golf Course

Caerleon Ware was produced in imitation of well known continental types such as Samian. On the left is an authentic Samian bowl, and on the right the less-defined Caerleon Ware imitation.

In 1996, as the Celtic Manor golf course was being built, archaeologists revealed a kiln and the remains of several buildings - possibly drying sheds. The kiln contained a range of broken Caerleon Ware pots.

The Abernant kiln provided proof that the pottery, which Wheeler had grouped together, was made locally. But another question remains unanswered: who were the potters?

Wheeler believed that the potters were Roman soldiers. However, a close look at the 'name' stamps used on the large mixing bowls (mortaria) suggested the potters were illiterate - unlike the stamps used on tiles which were clearly literate.

If the makers of the pots were illiterate, they were probably not soldiers, but local civilians. Also the pottery was being made at a time when large sections of the legion were away in northern Britain.

It would appear that some enterprising civilians had set up business to supply the legion with pottery in a style that it recognised.

Background Reading

Not all of the Caerleon potters were literate. On the right is a stamp on the rim of a bowl on which the initials 'S. B.' can be seen. On the left is a stamp produced by an illiterate potter. Here the letters have become stylised shapes.

'Bulmore, Celtic Manor golf course, No. 3' by B. C. Burnham. In Brittania vol. 28, p401-2 (1997).

'The Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon, Monmouthshire' by T. V. and R. E. M Wheeler. In Archaeologia vol. 78, p111-218 (1928).

The Caerwent peacock. Many colours have been used to create the peacock - blues, yellows, greens and reds of varying shades.

Excavation at the Roman fortress of Caerleon, 10km (6 miles) from Caerwent, has revealed a range of original pigments. These include red and yellow ochre, as well as a pellet of the rare Egyptian blue.

A selection of natural minerals used by the Romans to make pigments. These illustrate the vibrancy of colours available to the Roman wall painters.

This reconstruction of the peacock shows how it might have looked when first painted. The pigment is applied to the plaster when it is still wet, becoming fixed to the wall as it dried. This technique is known as fresco painting.

Study of a fragile wall painting from Caerwent has revealed some of the influences Romans brought to the lives of native Britons.

The Roman conquest brought parts of Wales into contact with the style and sophistication of Imperial Rome. For wealthy Britons this contact offered a chance to share in the lifestyle of the invaders. For craftsmen it offered the prospect of new patrons and greater profits.

In the Roman world it was common for the wealthy to have the walls and sometimes the ceilings of their rooms painted with brightly coloured panels, floral motifs, or scenes from mythology. But, before the Roman conquest, wall painting in this style was unknown in Britain - here was a new craft, and one that appears to have been quickly seized upon.

It is in the Roman town of Caerwent that we have some of our best evidence for the work of the wall painters.

One piece that has attracted particular interest is a painting of a peacock from a late 3rd century AD house at Caerwent excavated in the 1980s.

Enough fragments of the peacock have survived to allow its original appearance to be recreated. It would have been painted as a fresco, that is while the plaster was still wet, the colours becoming bonded into the surface as it dried. Many colours have been used to create the peacock - blues, yellows, greens and reds of varying shades. The picture itself is on a white background within a blue frame.

While the peacock is itself a work of art, it is the pigments from which it was produced that tell us most about the wide cultural and trade contacts of Roman Britain.

For example, the blue pigment is an artificial colour first developed in Egypt but then manufactured in Italy, where a wealthy businessman set up production in the 1st century BC. It was made from heating together a mixture of sand, natron and copper, and was sold around the empire in the form of small balls to be ground up by the painter as required.

The bright red in the picture is cinnabar or vermillion (mercuric sulphide) mined in Sisapo, Spain and distributed from Rome. Trade in the pigment was so lucrative that the government had to fix its price to stop it rising. It has only been identified on 20-30 sites in Britain - an indication of its rarity.

Not all the pigments were imported from overseas - some of the red ochre in the peacock was probably mined locally, possibly in the Forest of Dean. However, the presence of the exotic pigments demonstrates a lot more than just artistic taste. They would have been a statement to anyone who visited the house with the painted peacock, that its owners were both aware of and able to afford the luxuries that came with a place in the Roman Empire.

Background Reading

Caerwent Roman Town by R. J. Brewer, Published by Cadw (2006)

Wall-painting in Roman Britain by N. Davey and R. Ling. Published by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (1981).

Plan of Caerleon Roman fortress.

Marble inscription, probably from the south-west gate at Caerleon.

Reconstruction of the south-west gate, Caerleon.

Reconstruction of the Roman fortress baths (Caerleon) in about AD80.

Finds from the excavations at Caerleon are on display at the Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon.

Home to Rome's 2nd Augustan Legion for over two centuries, Caerleon is the best preserved Roman fortress in Wales.

Caerleon (Newport) is the only permanent Roman base within the borders of modern Wales. It was founded in AD 74 or 75, and used by the Second Augustan Legion, which had been stationed in various parts of southern Britain since the Roman invasion of AD43.

Caerleon remained the headquarters of the Second Augustan Legion for more than 200 years.

The fortress was known to the Romans as Isca, taking its name from the nearby River Usk.

Excavations at Caerleon since the 1920s have allowed us to build up a good understanding of the fortress.

The site

The fortress is a rectangular enclosure 490m by 418m (535 × 457 yards) giving an area of 20.5ha (50 acres). To the south-west lie a parade-ground and an amphitheatre and, beyond, various buildings of a civilian settlement have been found.

The defences were first built in earth and timber but were replaced in stone about AD 100. At the centre of the fortress, beneath the present parish church, was the headquarters building (principia) and next to it the commanding officer’s house. Remains of the fortress baths (the baths are now in the care of Cadw, who have restored them as a visitor attraction), a hospital, officers’ houses and various workshops have also been found. But over half the area would have contained barrack blocks to house the ordinary soldiers – over 5,000 of them. Most of these buildings were first constructed in wood; they were gradually rebuilt in stone from the 2nd century onwards.

Activity at the fortress appears to have been at its peak at the close of the first and beginning of the 2nd century. After this the legion was involved in the building of Hadrian’s Wall across northern England. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (AD 138–161) the occupation of Caerleon decreased dramatically, probably indicating a more major commitment to the north.

Around AD 300 the legion left Caerleon for good, with many of the main fortress buildings being demolished. This is probably related to the seizure of power in Britain by Carausius and Allectus (AD 287–96) and their need to defend the south of England from expected invasion by the official emperors Diocletian and Constantius.

Some buildings at Caerleon were certainly in use up to the mid 4th century and some streets were resurfaced after AD 346–8, but post-350 coins are sparse, suggesting little activity on the site after this date.

By AD 1188, when Gerald of Wales visited the fortress, it had been reduced to a stately ruin.

Green glazed pottery from Holt (Wrexham).

Excavations at Holt before the First World War. In this photograph Mr Acton stands beside the remains of one of the pottery kilns he discovered.

This ceramic plaque (known as an antefix) was used to cover the end of a line of roof tiles. It was produced at Holt and bears the stamp of the 20th Legion (LEG XX), as well as their emblem (a wild boar), and a standard.

Illustration of how green glazed vessels were fired.

Shortly after the Roman conquest, potters in North Wales were using a technology first developed in Egypt in the 1st millennium BC.

Holt, near Wrexham, North Wales produced pottery and building materials for the legionary fortress at Chester. The main period of production at Holt appears to have been between AD87 and AD135 - when the fort at Chester was rebuilt. However, production probably continued into the 3rd century AD.

Holt specialized in a number of different shapes and styles of pottery, some of which show a remarkable degree of technological sophistication on the part of the potters - none more so than the Green Glazed ware.

Glazed wares of any type are difficult to produce and are rare in Britain prior to the medieval period, however, limited numbers of vessels were produced at Holt and at Caerleon in the Roman period. They were made by dipping a vessel into a 'frit' (a raw glaze suspended in water). In the Roman world this frit was normally based on a lead oxide.

When the vessel was fired this reacted with silica in the pot, to form a hard impermeable glazed surface that can range in colour from light yellow to olive green to dark brown.

During the firing the Holt potters would have faced two major problems.

First, during the firing, the glaze liquifies and, if over-heated, could run excessively; if this happened the pots could become fused together. Second, hot, dirty gases in the kiln could affect the chemical reaction and cause blisters to the glaze or change its colour.

The Holt potters overcame these problems by firing their pots on a prop set within a 'saggar' (a fired clay box). A lid sealed the top of the saggar, keeping the vessel inside protected from the kiln gases and running glaze from other pots.

The technology to produce glazed pots in this way was developed in the Near East and Egypt during the early first millennium BC and was not known in Britain prior to the arrival of the Romans.

Presumably it was introduced at Holt to enable the soldiers to continue to enjoy luxuries they had grown familiar with elsewhere in the empire.

Background Reading

'A collection of samian from the legionary works-depot at Holt' by M. Ward. In Form and Fabric: Studies in Rome's material past in honour of B. R. Hartley by J. Bird, p133-43. Published by Oxbow Books (1998).

'Holt, Denbighshire: the works depot of the twentieth Legion at Castle Lyons' by W. F. Grimes. In Y Cymmrodor, vol. 41. Published by The Society of Cymmrodorion (1930).

'The Lead Glazed Wares of Roman Britain' by P. Arthur. In Early Fine Wares in Roman Britain by P. Arthur and G. Marsh, p293-356. Published by British Archaeological Reports (1978).

Roman Military network

John Ward, Curator of Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery (1893-1912) and first Keeper of Archaeology in the National Museum of Wales (1912-14).

For over 40 years Gelligaer was a cornerstone of the Roman military network that controlled south-east Wales.

The fort at Gelligaer is sited on a ridge between the Taff and Rhymney valleys. It commands an extensive view of this upland region, which was heavily wooded in Roman times.

The fort, constructed in stone, is almost square and occupies an area of 1.4ha (3.5 acres), making it one of the smallest Roman forts in Wales.

Initial excavations

Building inscription from the south-east gateway.

The site was explored in 1899-1901 by the Cardiff Naturalists' Society and then by John Ward, Curator of Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery, who undertook further excavations outside the fort between 1908 and 1913. The results established that the site was a Roman fort garrisoned by a cohors quingenaria (an auxiliary infantry unit of 500 men. The auxiliary infantry who garrisoned Gelligaer would have worn a simple mail shirt over a tunic, perhaps with trousers of wool or leather, and helmet. They would have carried a flat oval shield and been equipped with sword, dagger and stabbing-spear.)

The fort was defended by a wide outer ditch and an earth rampart faced on both sides by a stone wall. There were corner and interval towers and four double-arched gateways. The impressive headquarters building stood at the centre of the fort and next to it lay the residence of the unit's commander. A workshop with a yard and two granaries completed the central range of buildings. The men lived in six barrack blocks, one for each century of 80 men and their centurion. Other buildings within the fort were probably used for stores and a stable for the baggage animals belonging to the unit.

Outside the fort on the south-east side was a walled extension containing a bathhouse, where the soldiers could relax when off duty. Attached to the fort was the parade ground, used for drill, weapons training and religious festivals.

Roman conquest

Model of the stone fort at Gelligaer in the early 2nd century AD.

The stone fort was not the first military base at Gelligaer. A large earthwork to the north-west was an earlier earth and timber fort, probably built at the time of the Roman conquest of Wales in AD74-8. It was replaced by the smaller stone fort sometime between AD103-111. We know this date because of the inscription from the south-east gateway was found during the excavations. It records the construction of the fort between AD103 and 111 during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. The text reads:

"For the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajan Augustus, conqueror of Germany, conqueror of Dacia, son of the deified Nerva, High Priest, with Tribunician Power, father of his country, five times Consul, four times acclaimed Imperator, (the Second Augustan Legion [built this])."

Native rebellions

Excavation of the tile kiln at Gelligaer in 1913. Large quantities of brick and tile would have been needed during the construction of the fort.

The forts at Gelligaer were part of a military network across Wales which prevented any native rebellion. Gelligaer's nearest neighbours were forts at Pen-y-Darren to the north and Caerphilly to the south. Recent research indicates that the garrison was probably withdrawn at the time of the Emperor Hadrian (AD117-38), by which time the Silures had been pacified. There is evidence for later activity at the site, but its nature is unclear.

Background Reading

The Ermine Street Guard kitted as auxiliary infantryman.

The Roman fort of Gellygaer in the county of Glamorgan by John Ward. Published by Bemrose & Sons (1903).

Gelligaer Roman fort by Richard Brewer. Published by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (1980).