Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists investigating Exeter Cathedral’s historic Cloister Garden have uncovered clues to its Roman past.
The archaeological investigation is part of the cathedral’s project to build a new Cloister Gallery, replacing medieval cloisters which were demolished in 1656. The new Cloister Gallery will be built upon the medieval foundations of the original cloisters to connect the cathedral with its Chapter House and Pearson buildings.
The Roman structures have been revealed as part of a major building project. Credit: English Cathedrals
The new archaeological clues include remains of an early Roman street and timber buildings and a wall of a Roman town house that the foundations of the medieval cloisters later overlay.
Cathedral Archaeologist John Allan said the finds helped build a clearer picture of how the site would have looked in Roman times.
“The street and early timber buildings date from c. AD 50–75, and formed elements of the Roman legionary fortress which underlies central Exeter; they probably represent part of a long barrack building which extended towards the grant stone bath-house exposed under the Cathedral Green in the early 1970s. The later stone wall is part of a previously unknown town house of the 3rd and 4th centuries,” he said.
He explained they probably represented part of a long barrack building that extended towards the grant stone bath-house exposed under the Cathedral Green in the early 1970s.
“The later stone wall is part of a previously unknown town house of the 3rd and 4th Centuries,” he added.
Exeter Cathedral. Credit: Rüdiger Wölk – CC BY-SA 2.5
The Romans arrived in the area at around 50 CE and built a town on the river Exe that soon became known to the Romans as Isca.
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The town was steadily built up over the years until the collapse of Roman rule on the island. For another few centuries, before the Germanic Saxons invaded the island and took over, Exeter would be restored and become a thriving urban center.
This new discovery gives a clearer picture of what ancient Exeter looked like under Roman rule.
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
