Corinium Dobunnorum was the second largest town in the Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

 of Britannia

Britannia

Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...

. Today it is known as Cirencester

Cirencester

Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...

, located in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

.

Fortress

A Roman fort

Castra

The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...

 was established at Corinium, in the friendly territory of the Dobunni

Dobunni

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions. The latter part of the name possibly derives from Bune, a cup or vessel...

 tribe, about a year after the Roman conquest of Britain

Roman conquest of Britain

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...

. The local centre continued at the oppidum

Oppidum

Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...

 at Bagendon

Bagendon

Bagendon is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about four miles north of Cirencester. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 265....

 until the early AD 60s. However, by the mid-70s, the military had abandoned the fort, and the place became the Dobunni's civitas

Civitas

In the history of Rome, the Latin term civitas , according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the cives, or citizens, united by law . It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities on the one hand and rights of citizenship on the other...

or capital.

Town development

Over the next twenty years, a street grid was laid out and the town was furnished with an array of large public stone buildings, two market places and numerous shops and private houses. Development continued until the 4th century. Three main roman roads

Roman roads in Britain

Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the vast standing Roman army , constituted the three most impressive features of the Roman Empire. In Britain, as in other provinces, the Romans constructed a comprehensive network of paved trunk roads Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the...

 met in Corinium, underscoring the importance of the town. These were the Fosse Way

Fosse Way

The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis south...

, Akeman Street

Akeman Street

Akeman Street was a major Roman road in England that linked Watling Street with the Fosse Way. Its junction with Watling Steet was just north of Verulamium and that with the Fosse Way was at Corinium Dobunnorum...

 and Ermin Street

Ermin Street

Ermin Street or Ermin Way is one of the great Roman roads of Britain. It runs from Gloucester via Cirencester to Silchester . Much of it is now covered by the modern A417, A419 and B4000 roads....

.

Public buildings

The forum

Forum (Roman)

A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...

 and basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 were bigger than any other in Britain, apart from that in Londinium

Londinium

The city of London was established by the Romans around AD 43. It served as a major imperial commercial centre until its abandonment during the 5th century.-Origins and language:...

. The basilica was decorated with beautifully carved Corinthian

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

 capitals, Italian marble wall veneers and Purbeck marble

Purbeck Marble

Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone quarried in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England.It is one of many kinds of Purbeck Limestone, deposited in the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous periods....

 mouldings. Unfortunately, it was built over the ditch of the old fort and the walls cracked and sank, forcing a major rebuilding project in the mid-2nd century.

There appears to have been a cattle market adjoining the forum with a market hall and several butchers' shops. No public baths

Thermae

In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...

 have been identified, but there may possibly have been a theatre. A system of wooden water pipes indicates there was also an aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

. As yet, no temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

s have been located either, although numerous fine sculptures show much religious activity in the town. The missing Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, represented by a deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 at the Council of Arles in 314, may come from Corinium. The town was fortified in the late 2nd century. There were five gates and polygonal towers were later added to the walls.

The amphitheatre

Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...

 (illustration, above) stood to the south-east of the town in the area now called the Querns

Querns area, Cirencester

The Querns is an area of Cirencester, an ancient market town in the Cotswold hills of England.Its principle feature is the town's famous Roman amphitheatre, an impressive ancient monument that is surrounded by many other archaeological features, most notably the extensive Roman Quarries and a huge...

. It was built on the site of an old quarry, aligned with the street grid, an unusual feature. Stone walls were added in the early 2nd century, but about fifty years later there appears to have been a partial collapse and the complex was largely rebuilt to include small chambers around the circuit. These may have been animal or convict cells, or small shrines.

Domestic and industrial life

Corinium seems to have been the home to a number of very early private stone houses of wealthy individuals. Some date from the AD 110s. Such buildings continued to be built and occupied throughout the life of the town, but were particularly luxurious during the 4th century, when mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 floors and fine sculpture were much in evidence. Indeed it has been suggested that the town was the centre of both a stone carving industry, under a certain Sulinus son of Brucetus, and a mosaic industry with two schools of art, based on images of the saltire

Saltire

A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....

 and Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

. There were also bakers, glass makers, blacksmiths and goldsmiths within the walls.

Decline

The town walls were still being repaired early in the 5th century and the forum continued to be swept clean until finally abandoned, perhaps around AD 430. The amphitheatre, however, became the site of a large timber building associated with 5th or 6th century pottery. It may have been the fortified retreat of King Cyndyddan who fought at the Battle of Dyrham

Battle of Deorham

The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...

 in 577.

Remains

• The grass-covered bowl of the amphitheatre, also known as the "Bull Ring", is in the care of English Heritage
  English Heritage
  English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
  
  .
• A small section of the old Roman wall can be seen in the Abbey Park.
• A large collection of artefacts from Corinium are on display in the Corinium Museum
  Corinium Museum
  The Corinium Museum in the Cotswold town of Cirencester in England has a large collection of objects found in and around the locality. The bulk of the exhibits are from the Roman town of Corinium Dobunnorum, but the museum includes material from as early as the Neolithic and right up to Victorian...
  
  , Cirencester.

External links