More information : [ST 49885651] Roman Amphitheatre [GS] The so-called amphitheatre [Hoare - Rutter - Scarth. etc.] is a "low, continuously circular bank of earth, 5-6ft. high enclosing a flat, level space, 75 ft. in diameter, sunk 5-6 ft. below surface level: Ill-suited as a pond or reservoir, the notion of a tiny amphitheatre is not wholly absurd. The earth work was excavated by Gray (2) who establishd two entrances (E-W). He found flints and small Roman sherds at all levels but no features characteristic of an amphitheatre: from this he concluded a Roman earthwork. A trial trench (3) in 1938, failed to reveal any evidence of an internal ditch. These records were destroyed in 1940, but gave rise to the idea of a post-Roman date. It was thought that the distribution of sherds and flints throughout the earthwork might represent a scraped-up surface yield. Normal to this area of intense R.B. occupation (Lead mines etc.) Scheduled as Amphitheatre Finds in Taunton museum This is a large, circular depression surrounded by a bank: it has two entrances to E. and W. Surveyed at 1/2500. (7) Smaller example of amphitheatre. (8) Small amphitheatre associated with the mining settlement at Charterhouse; of similar size to that outside the auxiliary fort at Tomen-y-Mur (SH 73 NW 7). (9) A fragment of Samian ware found by St.George Gray on the old ground surface beneath the vallum suggests a Roman date for the amphitheatre. (10)
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