More information : Parchmarks of a Roman settlement consisting of rectilinear enclosures containing buildings are visible to the east of Silbury Hill (SU 1020 6890). Finds of other Roman occupation debris south of this site (SU 16 NW 85) indicate that the settlement streched as far as the A4 road (Roman Road RR 53) and extended south beyond it (SU 16 NW 29). The settlement appears to have been occupied throughout the Roman period and into the 5th century AD. The substantial nature of the buildings revealed in the Kennet Foul Sewer Pipeline trench suggest that the settlement may be of high status with administrative functions and its location near major prehistoric monuments may indicate a religious focus. (1-2)
From the aerial photographs of the Roman settlement mentioned in sources 1-3, it was possible to see a number of rectilinear enclosures flanking a NW-SE aligned roadway, each with traces of possible collapsed buildings, some with distinct foundation plans.
The site is also cut through by the parchmark remains of a number of parallel lynchets (SU16NW 142), presumed to post date the Roman settlement. (3-5)
Online interview with Bob Bewley, formerly of English Heritage about the Roman Settlement at Silbury Hill, revealed by geophysical survey. The article includes conjecture that the settlement may have grown up around Silbury as a place of ritual pilgrimage. (6)
A range of geophysical survey techniques, including caesium survey, electrical reistance tomography (ERT) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) were used from 2001-2007 to survey the area around the foot of Sillbury Hill. These revealed presumably Romano-British enclosures on the edge of the Silbury ditch, and closer to the road a network of ditch like features , which have been interpreted as a Roman settlement with a "ladder style" layout, possibly including masonry buildings. Later investigation in water meadows to the east of the settlement revealed further occupation activity, the nature of which was unclear at the time of publication in Winter 2008-9. (7)
A further description of the Roman activity around Silbury Hill. (8)
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