Caerwent (Venta Silurum) - Town

Boasting the best-preserved set of Roman town defences in Britain, the quiet village of Caerwent *** lying between Newport and Chepstow in South Wales, was once the civitas capital of the Silures people. When I first visited the site in my teens, I was hugely impressed by the town's south wall and bastions (above), which seemed better suited to a medieval castle. Since then, more buildings within the walls have been excavated and several are now on display including a temple, houses, shops, forum and basilica - giving a glimpse of town life that is unique in Roman Britain.

Background and Context

The Roman town of Caerwent occupied a strategic position on the road from Gloucester (Glevum) to the legionary base at Caerleon (Isca Augusta). The town's name (Venta Silurum) gives a clue to its function: the 'market of the Silures' was established by the Romans as a civilian centre for the local people. We know them as the Silures from Roman authors such as Tacitus, but there is little evidence that this is what the people actually called themselves.

What we do know is that unlike some of the occupants of Iron Age Britain, the area's inhabitants didn't take kindly to Roman rule, defeating a legion in battle around 51 CE before succumbing to the inevitable around 74-75 CE. Nevertheless, they eventually gained a measure of autonomy, with a large forum-basilica being established at Caerwent as a seat of local government - the body in charge being the ordo respublicae civitatis Silurum (‘council of the community of the Civitas of the Silures’), which would have met in the town's basilica (described later below).

Defences were added to the town in later years, probably during the 2nd century. At first these comprised ditches, earth banks and a timber palisade, but an upgrade in the 3rd century added stone walls and then, at a later date, stone towers or bastions on the long north and south walls (see photo above, which shows a tower on the south wall).

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) town plan - my photo of on-site signage. Visible Roman remains (and some modern buildings) are highlighted in red. Arrow added to show the location of the car park.

The discovery of late 4th century coinage at Caerwent suggests that the town was still occupied at the end of Roman rule in Britain, but little is known about its history during the subsequent early medieval period. While a small Norman motte (castle mound) was built on the south-east corner of the Roman walls (this is still visible), the town was clearly in decline in terms of size and importance. This was good news for the preservation of its archaeology, as much of the land within the old town walls still remains undeveloped. Excavations have been taking place here since 1899, and much of the Roman town's layout has been established (see plan above) - although only a few of these buildings are now visible (highlighted in red), all of which lie to the north of the main village street.

Location and Access

Modern Caerwent lies on the A48 between Newport and Chepstow. The main road runs to the north of the village centre, passing close to the northern Roman defences. To visit by car, you turn off into the village (signposted) and head for a small car park (Google Maps location here) next to the site of the Roman west gate. A bus service between Newport and Chepstow passes through Caerwent, while a less frequent service links the village with Severn Tunnel Junction station on the railway lines from Bristol and Gloucester to Newport.

Date of my Visit

The photographs in this blog post date from my visits in 2012 and (mostly) 2026. 

Exploring Caerwent 

A walking circuit starting and finishing at the car park links up most of the key sites at Caerwent. This has taken me around 2-3 hours to complete, but it can easily be shortened. It begins at the car park, where there is an information barn (below) containing several display panels.

Caerwent - information point at the car park. The paving indicates the foundations of Roman structures.

Leave the car park and turn right (west) along the lane. You quickly reach the site of the town's west gate (the road to Caerleon). All that remains is the southern wall of its southern gate tower (off picture to the left in the photo below).

Caerwent - site of the west gate

From the west gate, turn left to follow the west and then the south walls of the town's defences. There is a choice of routes; either a higher path following the top of the embankment behind the wall ...

Caerwent - view of the south town wall from the upper path

... or alternatively a lower path running outside the defences.

 

Caerwent - west town wall from the lower path.

Both have their advantages. The upper path gives better general views and allows you to appreciate the the earth banks that preceded the construction of the later stone defences. It also gives the best view of the south gate, which was later blocked (see below).

However, the lower path allows much closer inspection of the stone walls and bastions, and is probably preferable. The west wall still stands to between 3 and 5 metres in height, mostly of limestone blocks in front of the embankment. Much of the facing masonry has been robbed here; originally the wall would have stood vertically above a small plinth. No towers or bastions were built on the west wall (or the east wall for that matter); it's unclear why, as an attack could have come from any direction.

The highest remaining section of the west wall comes just before the south-west corner:

Caerwent - west town wall at the south-west corner. 

Turning the corner there is a view along the long south wall. This is the best preserved section of the town's defences, including six projecting towers or bastions. These were later additions to the town wall, and were not bonded into the main structure, as can be seen from the first (most westerly) bastion that you encounter (below). The bastions would have been hollow, presumably with upper platforms.

Caerwent - the westernmost bastion on the south wall was not bonded to the main structure.

Continuing along the south wall, two further bastions are passed before you reach the fourth which is the best preserved on the entire defensive circuit (below - and see also the first image in this blog post). Much of the facing stonework remains intact, along with holes for the timber scaffolding used by masons during construction.

Caerwent - the fourth bastion on the south wall is the best preserved. 

Just past this bastion we reach the town's south gate. This single arched entrance was blocked up in later years, with the addition of a culvert. Viewed from the lower path, the site of the gateway is not immediately obvious:

Caerwent - south gate from the lower (outside) path

But a bit further on you can climb up onto the higher path, and retrace your steps for a better view, where the arch of the gateway and the later blocking masonry are more easily seen (below).

Caerwent - south gate from the upper footpath showing the arch and blocking masonry.

Continuing eastwards along the south wall, which is less well preserved in this section, there are two more bastions before we reach the south-eastern corner of the defences. The foundations of one of these can be seen from the upper footpath (below).

Caerwent - bastion foundations near the south-east corner.

The south-eastern corner of the wall is marked by a small Norman motte sitting incongruously on the Roman defences:

Caerwent - small Norman motte on the south-eastern corner of the Roman defences

At this point you can either remain on the upper path or descend to a road that runs parallel to the east wall. Either way leads to the town's east gate, although as the lower route has no safe off-road walkway following the upper path along the rampart is recommended.

Caerwent - east wall

All that is left of the town's east gate (the road to Gloucester) is part of the southern gate tower (below) which was also not bonded to the main wall structure.

Caerwent - east gate. Only part of the southern gate tower remains.

From here there is a choice of routes. Continuing north you can follow the line of defences (below) along a lane and then next to the A48 bypass to a before cutting back towards the car park along School Lane. However, much of these sections of wall are either missing or lie within private land, so cannot be inspected closely. The north gate is just about visible to the right (west) of a former public house.

Caerwent - east wall north of the east gate

Alternatively (and in my view preferably) you can leave the defensive circuit at this point and pass through the east gate, heading west along the main street of the village (Heol Caerwent), which follows the line of the original Roman road through the town. The pub here (the Coach and Horses) remains in business (at the time of my visit) and there is also a shop/post office and public toilets. 

Walk up this street past the post office on your left, and look for a gap in the wall on your right just opposite the public toilets. (As an aside, the field on the left (south) of the road behind the toilet block was excavated by Channel 4's Time Team in 2008 - episode link here and excavation report link here.)

The gap in the wall contains a metal gate that leads to the foundations of a temple (below), which was looking a bit overgrown when I took the pictures for this blog post.

Caerwent - temple plan (my photo of on-site signage)

Caerwent - temple

The temple dates from around 330 CE and follows a classic 'Romano-Celtic' layout. The inner shrine (cella) has an unusual sanctuary annex or apse  projecting into the surrounding corridor (ambulatory). A range of five rooms was added to this area at a later date, the purpose of which is unknown. Unfortunately, it is also unclear what deity was worshipped here. The whole complex was entered through a long entrance porch at the southern end of the building, next to the main road through the town. It appears that the temple was being maintained into the late 4th century.

The path around the temple leads on to the forum-basilica complex (below), which could also have benefitted from a bit of weeding at the time of my photographs.

Caerwent - forum-basilica plan (my photo of on-site signage). The areas highlighted in yellow are visible.

Caerwent - forum-basilica, with the base of the monumental archway in the foreground. Most of the forum lies beneath the properties towards the rear of this photograph.

This was the commercial and administrative hub of the town, fulfilling a range of legal and governmental services. A paved area (at the back of the photo above) marks what can be seen of the forum, which comprised a square piazza surrounded by buildings. Like the nearby temple, its main access would have been from road through the town. The adjoining basilica was a large rectangular building with three aisles; the south aisle, also visible in the photograph above, would have been separated from the forum by an open line of columns, with a side entrance marked by a monumental archway, the base of which is the square structure in the foreground of the above photo.

Caerwent - basilica, showing the main hall in the centre flanked by aisles on either side. 

On the north side of the basilica's north aisle was a range of rooms (below) that may have been used for holding tribunals (courts of law), a council chamber (curia) and possibly a shrine. There's a lot more detail about the building in Peter Guest's paper (link here).

Caerwent - basilica - north range of rooms.

The path continues past this range of rooms and leads to a lane (School Lane). Cross this lane and continue along the lane opposite (Pound Lane). On your left are the foundations of a line of shops and houses.

Caerwent - the Pound Lane shops.

The Pound Lane buildings were a mixture of commercial and residential uses, with shops towards the northern end which joins the main east-west road through the town. The jumble of foundations is a bit tricky to interpret. At the northern end (the first section that you reach on my route) lies part of a courtyard house. The west wing  (below) lies nearest to the road, including a room (now backfilled) that contained a mosaic floor over a heated hypocaust. 

Caerwent - west wing of the Pound Lane courtyard house. In the foreground is the site of a room (now backfilled) where a mosaic was found.

The courtyard lay on the left hand side of the above photo, containing a enclosure bounded by a wall (the low wall on the left with the bushes behind) that may have been a garden. This was a standard layout for a large Roman house; another, larger example (see below) can also be inspected at Caerwent. (Given this context, the layout of the Roman town house at Dorchester (Durnovaria) in Dorset described in another blog post is unusual.)

Sited nearer to the main road through the town, the buildings at the southern end of Pound Lane were mainly shops and other commercial uses. Various phases of development have been identified.

Caerwent - workshop at the southern end of Pound Lane

The building at the southern end of Pound Lane (above) housed a variety of commercial uses between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE. At first, it was a blacksmith's shop and workshop, as evidenced by finds of a hearth and lumps of iron slag. In later years, it merged with the building to the east to create larger premises, possibly following a fire. Internal walls were added, and a new residential wing built away from the main road, suggesting that the owner had gained in prosperity - although the main workshop remained in use.

The sequence of buildings on the site is displayed on signage (below), although this was looking a bit tired and in need of cleaning (at least) or replacement when I visited. 

Caerwent - Pound Lane signage

After deciphering the Pound Lane buildings it is time to visit the last of the town's internal buildings that is now on display - another courtyard house, located in the north-western corner of the town. It is reached by retracing your steps along Pound Lane by a few metres and then bearing left (north-west) across a grassed area.

Caerwent - corner of the courtyard house.

Caerwent - courtyard house plan (on-site signage)

As can be seen from the site plan (above) this was a dwelling on a substantial scale. It dates from the early fourth century CE, and replaced a series of smaller houses on the same site. It is interesting to see that significant investment was still being made in towns like Caerwent during this period, a time where other parts of the Roman empire (notably Gaul) were experiencing invasion and civic decline.

This was a high status dwelling; evidence of mosaics and painted wall plaster was found here when the site was excavated in the early 1980s, although this is not now visible. But what you can still see are the stone pillers (pilae) remaining from hypocausts (raised floors under which hot air would circulate) in two rooms.

Caerwent - remains of hypocaust in the courtyard house

The house seems to have been occupied into the second half of the 4th century, before being abandoned. Like many other Roman structures, much of the stone was removed (robbed) for re-use or to make lime.

If you have not already inspected the north-western section of the town walls from the A48, it is possible to reach part of the circuit by following the path north past the remains of the courtyard house. This leads onto the defensive embankment which can be followed round back to your original starting point at the car park. It is not as easy to see the stonework from this side, but at one point you can look over the fence to see the town's north wall running alongside a private garden (below).

Caerwent - section of the north wall viewed from the embankment.

Final Thoughts
 

That concludes our circuit of Roman Caerwent. Generally, the site is well-presented, although (as my photos show), the signage is looking tired and some of the structures are rather overgrown. It is certainly worth getting hold of the excellent Cadw guidebook in advance of your visit, although (unlike English Heritage) it doesn't seem possible to purchase online. I bought mine at Caerleon, where the fort, baths, amphitheatre and excellent Roman Legion Museum are well worth a visit - only a 20 minute drive from Caerwent. 

As with some other Roman sites covered in this blog, I'm sure that more could be made of Caerwent's Roman heritage. While the visible remains are impressive and instructive, it is often the more detailed finds that bring a site to life, for example if there is an on-site museum where visitors can see excavated items from the town. There are plenty of excellent examples - the museums at the Roman towns of Corbridge and St Albans spring to mind, as well as the above-noted museum at Caerleon. While there are obvious resource implications, this is something that if done well can greatly enhance the attractiveness of the site for visitors and yield economic benefits as well as furthering greater understanding of the period.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

References

Ashby, Thomas (1904) 'Excavations at Caerwent in Monmouthshire.' M.A.N. 69. - link

Brewer, Richard J. (2006) Caerwent Roman Town. Cardiff: Cadw.

Guest, Peter (2022) 'The forum-basilica at Caerwent (Venta Silurum): a history of the Roman Silures.' Britannia 53, pp. 227-267. - link

Wessex Archaeology (2009) Caerwent Roman Town, Monmouthshire, South Wales: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results. - link