Clausentum was a small town in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...

. The site is believed to be located in

Bitterne Manor Bitterne Manor is a suburb of Southampton surrounding the manor house of the same name. It is located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen, across Cobden Bridge from St Denys. History Bitterne Manor is the site of the original Roman set ...

, which is now a suburb of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Identification

Route VII of the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...

documents the Roman settlement of Clausentum as being west of Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester) and from Venta Belgarum (Winchester). In 1610,

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Ann ...

identified Southampton as being the site of Clausentum and described how at Bitterne he had seen "old broken walls, and trenches of an ancient castle". Around 1770, John Speed claimed that Clausentum was in the area that is now known as

. In 1792, the antiquary Richard Warner investigated those claims and found a ditch, an earth bank and some Roman coins. Since then, this site has been investigated further and is generally accepted as the site of Clausentum, but there is no universal agreement. Reference to modern maps shows Bitterne Manor to be from

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

. Wickham is at the junction of two Roman Roads and is a better fit to the distances documented in Route VII of the Antonine Itinerary. The case for Clausentum being situated at Bitterne Manor is based on archaeological evidence, and the geography of the site (nestled inside a sharp bend in the River Itchen) which clearly allowed it to be turned into a good defensive position. The fact that there was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

settlement at what is now Bitterne Manor is not disputed.

Post-Roman use

The walls may have been reused for a Saxon

burh A burh () or burg was an Old English fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new const ...

Site

The settlement is located on a promontory jutting into the River Itchen.Roger Wilson, (2002), ''A Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain - 4th edition'', page 152. Constable. The first archaeological excavations were conducted in 1935, and

Molly Cotton Mary Aylwin Cotton OBE, FSA, Hon FBA ( Marshall; 1902-1984),Potter, T. 1984. M. Aylwin Cotton, O.B.E., Hon. F.B.A. F.S.A 1902-1984. Papers of the British School at Rome 52: 1-2. known as Molly Cotton, was a British archaeologist and former docto ...

undertook excavations from 1951 to 1954.Cotton, M. and Gathercole, P. 1958. Excavations at Clausentum, Southampton, 1951–1954. London : H.M. Stationery Office. The excavations showed that it was the site of a small town in the 1st and 2nd centuries. At a later date a stone defensive wall was erected around the site. The early excavators dated the erection of this wall to around 370, but later evidence showed that the walls were erected around 280–90, at about the same time as the fort at nearby Portchester ( Portus Adurni). Traces of a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

on a line running from

to Wickham have also been found. Today, all that is visible are the fragmentary remains of a small 2nd-century bath house, and a fragment of the 3rd century fortified walls. The baths consist of four rooms, later converted into a two-roomed structure.Roger Wilson, (2002), ''A Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain - 4th edition'', page 655. Constable. They were demolished when the fortified wall was built at the end of the 3rd century. The remains are located on private property, at Bitterne Manor House, and permission is needed to see them.

Finds

Four Roman milestones and three possible milestones were found at Bitterne between 1800 and 1850.Clausentum
Pastscape, retrieved 13 January 2012 Two are in the

Tudor House and Garden Tudor House and Garden is a historic building, museum, tourist attraction, and Grade I listed building in Southampton, England. Established as Southampton's first museum in 1912, the house was closed for nine years between 2002 and 2011 during ...

in Southampton; the remainder are lost. Other artifacts from Clausentum on display at

SeaCity Museum The SeaCity Museum is a museum in Southampton, England, which opened on 10 April 2012 to mark the centenary of RMS ''Titanics departure from the city. It is housed within a part of the Grade II* listed civic centre building which previously ho ...

in Southampton include an altar dedicated to the Celtic goddess

Ancasta Ancasta was a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She is known from a single dedicatory inscription found in the United Kingdom at the Roman settlement of ''Clausentum'' (Bitterne, near Southampton). Ancasta may be taken to be a local god ...

, a bronze

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

with Celtic hair-style, and a pipe-clay

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

Notes

External links

Clausentum
at roman-britain.co.uk
Roman Southampton
Archaeology Object Database, at Southampton City Council {{coord, 50.9180, N, 1.3834, W, display=title History of Southampton Archaeological sites in Hampshire Roman towns and cities in England