The Archaeology Files - Verulamium Roman town (St Albans)

Date of visit: 7 March 2020
Location: South west of St Albans city centre
Time period: Roman, AD 43 to AD 410 (incorporating some earlier Iron Age remains)
Type of site: Roman town remains
Photos: Verulamium site visit photo album 

I've wanted to visit Verulamium for a number of years, so this was a very exciting trip, taking place only a few days before the first COVID-19 lockdown was announced.  

Verulamium occupied something of a unique spot in the administration of Roman Britain - more important than the regional civitas capitals, but not of high enough status to be awarded the title of colonia, Verulamium was a instead designated municipium, the second-highest ranking of Roman town, and the only example in Britain.  This status was awarded in AD 50, and gave the inhabitants of the town a higher legal status than those of other settlements - citizens of municipia possessed 'Latin Rights', a sort-of lesser citizenship status, and were entrusted with a certain amount of self-governance.

Why was Verulamium given this unique status?  Well, we know that Verulamium existed as an established settlement before the Roman invasion, where it was known as Verlamion and was the capital of the Catuvellauni people.  It appears that Verlamion grew into an important trading centre for iron ore, and that is was part of an established trade route with Roman Gaul, prior to the Roman invasion of Britain.  After the invasion, the tribe was friendly towards Roman rule, thus enabling the invading army to make haste in heading north and west - indeed, when the Roman army built the famous Watling Street shortly after the invasion, the course of the road ran slap-bang through Verulamium, enabling the very swift movement of troops.  The Catuvellauni were adopted as something of a "client kingdom" by the Romans, allowed to do things their own way (provided it complemented Roman ambitions) - and for this reason, Verulamium in the early days of Roman rule was not particularly Roman in appearance, although inhabitants were using high quality Roman pottery and metal works.  So I think the award of municipium status comes from the pre-Roman importance of the site, its clout as a trading centre, and perhaps as a reward to the people of the town for their cooperation in those early days of empire.

A decade later, the town fell victim to the Boudican Revolt - probably because of its attitudes to Roman rule and culture.  As with Colchester and London, archaeologists here have found burnt layers consistent with the razing of buildings, but in an ironic way, the destruction wrought by the revolt gave the Roman authorities the opportunity to start the town afresh, so that the Iron Age layout was removed and replaced with a more conventional Roman street system.  This included the construction of the usual Roman town buildings - a forum, basilica, bathhouse and theatre.  An inscription from the forum at Verulamium, dating from either AD 79 or AD 81, was discovered during works on in a school yard in 1955, near to the north-east entrance of the forum and basilica.  This is notable for mentioning Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Governor of Britain (AD 77-84), whose son-in-law Tacitus wrote his biography, a fascinating work that has been largely relied upon in our understanding of the earlier days of Roman rule.  The reconstructed inscription hangs in the excellent Verulamium Museum, and is translated as follows:

For the Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasian Augustus, son of the deified Vespasian, Pontifex Maximus, in the ninth year of tribunician power, acclaimed Imperator fifteen times, having been consul seven times, designated consul for an eighth time, censor, Father of the Fatherland, and to Caesar Domitian, son of the deified Vespasian, having been consul six times, designated consul for a seventh term, Prince of Youth, and member of all the priestly brotherhoods, when Gnaeus Julius Agricola was legate of the emperor with pro-praetorian power, the Verulamium basilica was adorned.

Inscription in the Verulamium Museum

Interesting side note: the reference to Domitian was defaced on this inscription and many others around the Empire, after a damnation memoriae was pronounced on him in AD 96 (a damnation memoriae was essentially an instruction to forget somebody, to strike their name from public record, to wipe them out of history.) 

In the heyday of the Romano-British period that followed the Boudican Revolt, Verulamium flourished, and was the third-largest settlement in Britain.  Nowadays, the town's major archaeological focal-point is the Roman theatre, which must surely count as some of the country's finest Roman remains.  As far as we are aware, Verulamium theatre is unique in Britain, for it is the only example of its kind to have a stage, as opposed to an amphitheatre.  The theatre was built in around AD 140, and used for a variety of purposes, from religious processions, dancing, wrestling, armed combat, readings and wild beast shows.  Archaeologists have determined that the theatre was expanded in the AD 180s, and that by AD 300 it could seat 2,000 spectators. 

Verulamium theatre remains - amongst the finest Roman remains in the country

Reconstruction of Verulamium theatre

Beyond the walls of the theatre, archaeological excavations have uncovered a row of shop foundations, which open out onto Watling Street itself.  The shops seem to be in the classic Romano-British style, sometimes known as "strip shops", with a shop front and storage and sleeping quarters towards the back.  Excavations have revealed broken crucibles and waste metal, so these shops appear to have been used by metal workers and blacksmiths.  The site surrounding the theatre was also home to a large townhouse, which contained a hypocaust (underground heating system) and underground shrine.

The higher-status Roman townhouse

Strip shop remains - Watling Street lies directly behind

The public Verulamium Park also contains undercover Roman mosaic and hypocaust remains, which were unfortunately closed on the day of my visit.  The park itself is a large and beautiful green space, dotted with the odd fragment of original Roman wall (frustratingly I have misplaced my photo of the wall, so the below image is courtesy of English Heritage.)

Part of the Roman wall in Verulamium Park (source: English Heritage)

Finally, a note on Verulamium Museum, a rarity in this country for being solely focussed on the town's Roman history.  The museum houses one of the best collections of Romano-British mosaics anywhere in the country, including the amazing "Sea God" mosaic (AD 160-190), a fine piece of work that must have belonged to an elite person.  There are also an awful lot of artefacts taken from Verulamium and the surrounding countryside, much of which hints at a society which adopted Roman culture with some ease.

The Sea God mosaic