Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ANCASTER Town ENGLAND" .
Ancasterr ("Causennae") Lincolnshire, England.
The Roman settlement at Ancaster lies 29 km S of Lincoln on Ermine Street. The
place has long been identified as the Causennae of the Antonine Itinerary, but
if the Itinerary distances are accepted Causennae should lie S of Ancaster. The
settlement lies at the junction of two important routes: the N-S ridge followed
by Ermine Street, and an E-W route through the Ancaster Gap. An Iron Age settlement
occupied the site at the time of the Roman conquest.
The first Roman occupation of Ancaster took the form of a fort, built
not long after A.D. 43 and held until ca. A.D. 70-80. Only a section of the defenses
has so far been recovered. After the withdrawal of the army unit a civilian vicus
developed, which received its own defenses, probably in the later 3d c. These
consisted of a stone wall 2.1 in wide, an earth rampart behind it, and, in the
final form, two broad ditches outside (3.6 ha). Projecting towers were built at
the angles, probably in the 4th c. Knowledge of the interior is limited. A few
pieces of religious sculpture, including a relief of the Matres, suggest a temple
or temples. Agricultural buildings are known outside the walls, and an early Anglo-Saxon
cemetery immediately outside the S defenses suggests that occupation continued
at least into the 5th c.
M. Todd, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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