Charterhouse Roman Town

Roman lead mines at Charterhouse, Somerset

Charterhouse Roman Town was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset.

Its Latin name may have been Iscalis, but this is far from certain.^[1] An alternative, based on inscriptions on a pig of Roman lead BRIT. EX. ARG. VEB, meaning "British (lead) from the VEB... lead-silver works" would suggest the name VEB for the site. This may explain the nearby village of Ubley, as V and U are interchangeable in Latin, Ubley may have derived from Veb-ley, and was originally a settlement where Romano-British lead miners lived.^[2]

The Roman landscape has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[3]

Mining settlement

Site of Roman fort

The settlement grew up around the north-western edge of prehistoric lead and silver mines, which were exploited by the Romans. Mendip lead ore had up to 0.4% silver content, which the Romans used to pay the army.^[4] Extraction is thought to have begun as early as AD 49^[2] (although the evidence of dateable lead ingots found in the neighbourhood has recently been questioned.^[5]) At first the lead and silver industries were tightly controlled by the Roman military (in the south-west, by the Second Legion^[6]) and there was a small 'fortlet' adjoining the mines during the 1st century, which may, however, have been little more than a fortified compound for storing lead pigs.^[7] After a short time, the extraction of these metals was contracted out to civilian companies, probably because of low silver content.^[8] Smelting was undertaken on site where industrial workshops have been excavated^[9], and the metal exported along a minor road to the Fosse Way, and probably through a small inland port at nearby Cheddar.^[6]

Amphitheatre

View of the ancient enclosure and site of Roman town

An amphitheatre stood west of the settlement. It is the only one in England to exist at a lead mine and is additional evidence of the importance of Mendip lead to the Romans.^[10] It measures 32m x 24.4m and the banks for the seating survive 4.5m above the arena. It was surveyed in 1909. It was probably a place of entertainment for the soldiers at the Roman fort which was established here.^[11]

See also

• Roman engineering
• Roman mining
• Roman technology

References

1. ^ Rivet, A L F; Smith, Colin (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. London: B T Batsford. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Havinden, Michael (1981). The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 85. ISBN 0340201169. 
3. ^ Firth, Hannah (2007). Mendip from the air. Taunton: Somerset County Council. ISBN 9780861833900. 
4. ^ Elkington, H D H (1976). "The Mendip Lead Industry". The Roman West Country: Classical Culture and Celtic Society. 
5. ^ Clement Whittick, G (1982). "Roman Lead-Mining on Mendip and in North Wales". Britannia 13. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Aston, Mick; Burrow, Ian (1982). The Archaeology of Somerset. Taunton: Somerset County Council. 
7. ^ De la Bedoyere, Guy (2006). Roman Britain: A New History. London: Thames & Hudson. 
8. ^ "Major Romano-British Settlement Charterhouse on Mendip, Avon". Roman Britain.org. http://www.roman-britain.org/places/charterhouse.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-28. 
9. ^ "Charterhouse". Big Roman Dig. http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bigromandig/database/2_31.jsp?activityId=361. Retrieved 2006-10-28. 
10. ^ Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 978-0-85033-461-6. 
11. ^ Adkins, Lesley and Roy (1992). A field Guide to Somerset Archeology. Stanbridge: Dovecote press. ISBN 0946159947.