The Roman Baths and "macellum" at Wroxeter: Excavations by Graham Webster 1955-85

Compiled and edited by Peter Ellis. With contributions by F. W. Anderson, Justine Bayley, Gillian Braithwaite [a.o.]. Illustrations by Heather Bird [a.o.]. Ebook (PDF) published 2013. Excavations by Graham Webster at Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) were undertaken on the southern part of the insula containing the baths and market hall ('macellum'), the latter one of few known in the province. The excavations enable the construction sequence and function of these major public buildings to be unravelled and analysed in detail on an insula untouched by medieval or later buildings. The work revealed that timber-framed buildings, constructed c AD 90 and fronting on Watling Street, were swept away to accommodate the public buildings, which were built over several decades between the 120s and 160s. Changes were introduced in the third century when a swimming pool (natatio) was filled in and an additional baths suite was built in the exercise yard to one side of the main baths complex. Excavations in the street porticoes and on Watling Street revealed a continued use of some of the buildings into the fifth century, after their original functions had ceased. The artefact and environmental finds reports are on material deriving mainly from the initial building campaign, but with some third-century groups. The report includes an edition and compilation of the accounts of the nineteenth-century excavations by Thomas Wright and others.