Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T03:37:55.844Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Hint of Exeter's Hinterland and Port: A New Large Aisled Hall Building at Wessex Close, Topsham, Devon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2019

Paul Rainbird  and
Alex Farnell
Paul Rainbird
Affiliation:
AC archaeology Ltdprainbird@acarchaeology.co.uk
Alex Farnell
Affiliation:
AC archaeology Ltdprainbird@acarchaeology.co.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A large aisled hall building excavated at Topsham, near Exeter, Devon, dates to the late second and third centuries a.d. and would have been used simultaneously for domestic accommodation, crop processing, fish sauce making, industrial activities and storage. Its large size is unique in the hinterland of Roman Exeter and this is almost certainly due to its prime position next to both the Exe estuary and the Roman road between Topsham and Exeter. The issues raised in regard to the relationship between Exeter and its hinterland are discussed.

Keywords

ExeterTopshamaisled hallportfish sauce
Type
Shorter Contributions
Information
Britannia , Volume 50 , November 2019 , pp. 385 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allan, J., Durrant, J., and Taylor, R. 2008: ‘Roman tiles in Exminster church’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 66, 117–26Google Scholar
Allen, M. 2016: ‘The South’, in Smith et al. 2016, 75–140Google Scholar
Allen, M., Lodwick, L., Brindle, T., Fulford, M., and Smith, A. 2017: The Rural Economy of Roman Britain; New Visions of the Roman Countryside, Vol. 2, Britannia Monograph 30, LondonGoogle Scholar
Bidwell, P.T. 1979: The Legionary Bath-house and Basilica and Forum at Exeter, Exeter Archaeological Reports 1, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Bidwell, P.T. 1980: Roman Exeter: Fortress and Town, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Booth, P. 2007: ‘Roman Britain in 2006. Sites explored. South-western counties’, Britannia 38, 294–6Google Scholar
Brindle, T. 2016: ‘The South-West’, in Smith et al. 2016, 331–58Google Scholar
Brown, S., and Holbrook, N. 1989: ‘A Roman site at Otterton Point’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 47, 29–42Google Scholar
Dyer, M.J. 1999: Archaeological Observation and Recording of a Residential Development Between Peel Close and Orchard Way, Topsham, Exeter, 1999, unpub. Exeter Archaeology report no. 99.83, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Farnell, A., and Rainbird, P. 2018: Land North of Wessex Close, Topsham, Near Exeter, Devon: Results of Archaeological Excavations – Technical Report, unpub. AC archaeology report no. ACD1360/3/1, BradninchGoogle Scholar
Frere, S. 1987: Britannia: A History of Roman Britain (3rd edn), LondonGoogle Scholar
Fulford, M. 2017: ‘Conclusions’, in Allen et al. 2017, 358–63Google Scholar
Govier, E., and Rainbird, P. 2016: Land at Exeter and Devon Crematorium, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon: Results of an Archaeological Excavation and Proposals for Further Work, unpub. AC archaeology report no. ACD1348/2/1, BradninchGoogle Scholar
Griffith, F.M. 1988: ‘A Romano-British villa near Crediton’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 46, 137–42Google Scholar
Henderson, C.G. 1999: ‘The city of Exeter from AD 50 to the early nineteenth century’, in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W. (eds), Historical Atlas of South-West England, Exeter, 482–98Google Scholar
Henderson, C.G. 2001: ‘The development of the South Gate of Exeter and its role in the City's defences’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 59, 45–123Google Scholar
Holbrook, N. 1987: ‘Excavations at Honeyditches and the nature of the Roman occupation at Seaton’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 45, 59–74Google Scholar
Holbrook, N. 2008: ‘Roman’, in Webster, C. (ed.), The Archaeology of South-West England, Taunton, 151–61Google Scholar
Holbrook, N. 2015: ‘The towns of South-West England’, in Fulford, M. and Holbrook, N. (eds), The Towns of Roman Britain: The Contribution of Commercial Archaeology Since 1990, Britannia Monograph 27, London, 90–116Google Scholar
Jarvis, K., and Maxfield, V. 1975: ‘The excavation of a first-century Roman farmstead and a Late Neolithic settlement, Topsham, Devon’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 33, 209–66Google Scholar
Lodwick, L. 2017: ‘Arable farming, plant foods and resources’, in Allen et al. 2017, 11–84Google Scholar
Margary, I.D. 1955: Roman Roads in Britain, Vol. I, LondonGoogle Scholar
Miles, H. 1977: ‘The Honeyditches Roman villa, Seaton, Devon’, Britannia 8, 107–48Google Scholar
Morris, P., Montague, L.A.D., and Goodchild, R. 1938: ‘A Romano-British building at Topsham’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society 3(2), 67–82Google Scholar
Pollard, S. 1974: ‘A late Iron Age settlement and a Romano-British villa at Holcombe, Devon’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 32, 59–162Google Scholar
Radford, C.A.R. 1937: ‘The Roman site at Topsham’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society 3(1), 4–23Google Scholar
Sage, A., and Allan, J. 2004: ‘The early Roman military defences, late Roman burials and later features at the Topsham school, Topsham’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 62, 125–40Google Scholar
Salvatore, J.P. 2017: ‘Roman Britain in 2016. Sites explored. South-western counties’, Britannia 48, 79–88Google Scholar
Salvatore, J.P., Steinmetzer, M., and Quinnell, H. forthcoming: ‘The Iron Age settlement, Roman military establishment, Roman civil occupation, and mid–late Roman cemetery at the former St Loye's College, Topsham Road, Exeter’, Devon Archaeological Society: Occasional PaperGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. 2016: ‘Buildings in the countryside’, in Smith et al. 2016, 44–74Google Scholar
Smith, A., Allen, M., Brindle, T., and Fulford, M. 2016: The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain; New Visions of the Roman Countryside, Vol. 1, Britannia Monograph 29, LondonGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J. 2013a: ‘Encountering Romanitas: characterising the role of agricultural communities in Roman Britain’, Britannia 44, 171–90Google Scholar
Taylor, J. 2013b: ‘Roman urbanism: a view from the countryside’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 32, 413–32Google Scholar
Todd, M. 1987: The South-West to AD 1000, LondonGoogle Scholar
Uglow, J. 2000: ‘Three Romano-British sites in the lower Exe Valley’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 58, 227–47Google Scholar
Weddell, P.J. 1980: ‘Excavations at 3–5 Lower Fore Street, Exmouth’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 38, 91–115Google Scholar
Willis, S. 2007: ‘Roman towns, Roman landscapes: the cultural terrain of town and country in the Roman period’, in Fleming, A. and Hingley, R. (eds), Prehistoric and Roman Landscapes: Landscape History after Hoskins, Vol. 1, Macclesfield, 143–64Google Scholar