| Summary : The site of the Roman town of Staines. The Roman settlement was probably founded as a military post in the immediate post-conquest period whilst the legions were moving west. The area was affected by flooding in 50AD, but due to the strategic position, re-occupation by a military detachment was necessary, and soon a small civil settlement grew up around the military post and possible depot; in 60-61AD these features were destroyed during the Boudiccan uprising. Almost immediately after the uprising the settlement was rebuilt and developed into a prosperous civilian town, the full expansion of which occurred between 100-130AD. Towards the end of the 2nd century the substantial buildings in the now High Street area were deliberately demolished and a clay (flood?) bank was erected around the outskirts of the town, on its southern side. The systematic destruction of the buildings may have been the result of retribution by Severus, for the town's support of Clodius Albinus. Flooding re-occurred in 220 AD with large areas of the settlement being affected. Some slight growth appears in 270 AD but the character of settlement had changed by then from a once thriving commercial centre to a small nucleated settlement. Some form of defence system, with entrances guarded by rectangular timber structures, was constructed about the town in the late 4th/early 5th century, utilising a natural east-west ridge, this had also been used as a boundary for the settlement since the 3rd century. Outside this area an Anglo-Saxon settlement dating from the 5th-6th centuries was discovered and included an industrial site, a possible grubenhaus and a series of ditches and gullies. |
More information : (Area centred TQ 036716) The reputed site of 'PONTES' a Roman posting station has long been associated with Staines; the name clearly indicates 'the bridges' and suggests a river crossing. Roman finds from the area (see sites TQ 07 SW 21, 22), including the necks of two wine vessels (now in Egham Museum) and a grey ware urn (now in London Museum) (2) were the only evidence of Roman activity until excavations in the town from 1969 to 1979 by M. Rendell and K Crouch (London & Middx. Arch Soc) revealed a large Roman settlement contiguous with one of the Anglo-Saxon period.(see plan).
The Roman settlement was probably founded as a military post in the immediate post-conquest period whilst the legions were moving west. The area was affected by flooding in 50AD, but due to the strategic position, re-occupation by a military detachment was necessary, and soon a small civil settlement grew up around the military post and possible depot; in 60-61AD these features were destroyed during the Boudiccan uprising. Almost immediately after the uprising the settlement was rebuilt and developed into a prosperous civilian town, the full expansion of which occurred between 100-130AD.
Towards the end of the 2nd century the substantial buildings in the now High Street area were deliberately demolished and a clay (flood?) bank was erected around the outskirts of the town, on its southern side. The systematic destruction of the buildings may have been the result of retribution by Severus, for the town's support of Clodius Albinus. Flooding re-occurred in 220 AD with large areas of the settlement being affected. Some slight growth appears in 270 AD but the character of settlement had changed by then from a once thriving commercial centre to a small nucleated settlement. Some form of defence system, with entrances guarded by rectangular timber structures, was constructed about the town in the late 4th/early 5th century, utilising a natural east-west ridge which occurs along the 50ft. contour, this had also been used as a boundary for the settlement since the 3rd century. Outside this area an Anglo-Saxon settlement dating from the 5th-6th centuries was discovered and included an industrial site, a possible grubenhaus and a series of ditches and gullies. (For details from excavations see also Britannia Vol 1 (1970) 292; Vol 7 (1976) p. 374; Vol 8 (1977) p.409; Vol 9 (1978) p. 468 and Vol 10 (1979) p. 136, 354).(1-5)
PONTIBUS. mentioned in Antonine Itinerary 478 (4) (Iter VII) is the Roman settlement at Staines, at the crossing of the Thames (shown as 'PONTES' on Roman Britain Map 4th Ser 1978).(6)
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