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Roman Roads

A route has been suggested along the Vale of Clwyd, through Ruthin and possibly another along Halkyn Mountain serving lead extraction. Recently a trench was excavated across the Roman Road parallel to the A55, near The Travellers Rest. A milestone was found in Gwaenysgor. A road was identified at Oakenholt, Flint.

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Prestatyn

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The Roman settlement in Prestatyn was first located by Gilbert Smith in 1934​. The Roman Bath house incorporated tiles made at Holt which had the mark of the twentieth legion on them. The Roman site dates from AD 70. It is thought the settlement developed as a centre for the extraction and export of lead from nearby Prestatyn Hillside.​ The bronze working workshops located at Prestatyn were located in front of the bath house. Roman artefacts were also found in the nearby Talargoch mine.​Artefacts were located in wooden workshops as well as the bath house. Moulds found were used for the manufacture of Bronze objects. 

Roman material was noted in Talargoch mine, near Prestatyn, in the 18th century by Pennant. Lead smelters exist in Flint and the lead must have been extracted from nearby Halkyn Mountain. There is likely also to have been Roman lead extraction at Ffrith and on Minera Mountain. However all of these areas have extensive later mining and it is extremely difficult to identify what is Roman mining.

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A lead pig found at Carmel School, near Holywell and recently a lead pig has been found in the Rossett area​.. inscribed with the name of Trebellius Maximus, the governor of Roman Britain from AD 63 to 69.

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Flint

Pennant mentions Roman remains and possible furnaces in the late 18th century.  Wynne Ffoulkes worked here in the 1850s and found 5 cist burials. Further furnaces were located in the 1920s. Development in the 1970s prompted further excavation and a building, possibly that of a procurator overseeing local lead production was excavated. 

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Holywell

 

In the last two years evidence of Roman activity close to Basingwerk Abbey in Holywell has unexpectedly been located. Although Samian ware had been found when the ruins of the Abbey were being cleared for display in the 1920s.

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potentially significant Roman activity. Trenches 1 and 2 identified two large defensive ditches, the full extent of which could not be safely exposed within the confines of the evaluation trenches. One of the ditches, which crossed the northern end of Trench 2 on a north-south alignment, contained clear Roman infill with an upper deposit producing fragments of Holt oxidised coarseware (HOL OX), with a date range of c.AD 90/100-130, and fragments of Dressel 20 amphora (BAT AM 2) broadly dated to the 1st -3 rd century AD. Both suggest an association with Legionary activity.’

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Frith

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Like Prestatyn and Flint, Ffrith is thought to link to lead extraction in the area. Tiles of the twentieth legion have been found here. Offa’s Dyke overlies the Roman remains in Ffrith. ​Roman remains have been known from Ffrith since the 16th century. Recent work by Channel 4 Time Team has shown that the plan produced by Bevan Evans (right) from work carried out in the 1960s is incorrect. 

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Corwen

Fragments of a building were located in Corwen when a bank was being built in the High Street in the 1920s; a figurine and column were located but thought to have been destroyed in Liverpool Museum during the War. The figurine has recently been found. A Tile of the 20th Legion was found in Coed Pen y Pigyn, above Corwen in the 1970s.

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Rhuddlan

Excavations in the 1970s brought to light extensive but inconclusive evidence of Roman occupation. It seems to have been a rural, farming settlement.

Plas Coch Wrexham
A Rural, apparently civilian settlement, found in the early 1990s. Rumours of Roman material and a hoard circulated for some time before the settlement was located. Initial rescue excavation, part funded by Cadw took place in 1994, and then subsequent development paid for excavation.
There is no evidence for military activity at either settlement, in all likelihood it is a farmstead but high ranking as there was Samian pottery and amphora​

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Mancot

  

Recently I have heard of work taking place linked to planning applications in Mancot which have uncovered extensive Roman remains. 

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St Asaph

 

St Asaph is the possible site of Varae, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. A Roman Road goes through St Asaph and there have been a number of Roman finds but no structures located'​

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Ruthin

It is thought that Ruthin is possibly the site of an early fort. Piecemeal excavations over the years have brought to light evidence of Roman occupation in the Brynhyfryd area. 

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This pot, which was made at Holt, contained a cremation and was found during an extension to the hospital in Ruthin.

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There have been excavations in the Brynhyfrd area of Ruthin as the housing estate grew. Edmund Waddelove undertook excavations as well as the Clwyd Powys Trust

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Evaluation trenches excavated in recent years in the centre of Ruthin have brought to light early Roman activity and possible evidence of metal working, in both Record Street and at the bottom of Clwyd Street, either side of the Castle.

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Also work behind the old Royal Oak, Clwyd Street in 2009 indicated industrial activity and occupation dating from the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD

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Roman Pottery, including imported Samian ware was found in Record Street.

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And at Nantclwyd y dre Roman occupation and activity was found when the collapsed wall in the Lord’s Garden was being repaired. ‘Roman activity on the site was represented by two features  cut into the natural sandstone bedrock Pit was identified during the first phase of the archaeological excavations and was sealed beneath three soil layers. The feature was irregularly shaped and heavily truncated by a medieval pit . The surviving portion of the feature measured a maximum length and width of 1.21m by 0.47 respectively and was 0.55m deep, containing five fills. A total of 23 sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from context  including two pieces of Samian ware, eight pieces of greyware, one piece of fine black-burnished ware and 12 pieces of oxidised ware. A single piece of glass and two iron nails were also recovered from this context along with fragments of unformed ceramic building material of varying fabrics including pieces of daub. A single piece of oxidised ware and nine iron objects were recovered from context  and a further iron object came from context . A Pit was identified during the second phase of excavations, following removal of the collapsed wall. It was sub-circular in shape and had been truncated to the south by the wall cut  and to the north by features. The feature had been roughly cut into the sandstone bedrock with visible toolmarks remaining and was roughly concave in profile, sloping to the south where the natural ground level dropped. The surviving remains of the feature measured 2.6m in diameter and a maximum depth of 0.83m. A feature contained eight fills . Artefacts were recovered from fills with the largest collection coming from the secondary fill of the feature. Pottery recovered from this context included Samian ware, amphora, oxidised ware, greyware and creamware. Fill   also contained lead and iron objects, furnace waste material and unformed or degraded CBM in addition to fragments of brick and tile. 30 sherds of pottery were recovered from the basal fill of the feature , 26 of which had formed part of an imitation of a black-burnished ware pot. A single piece of greyware was recovered from context   and two iron objects from  . Context  contained several river cobbles, three of which had mortar adhering to them, suggesting they had formed part of a floor surface.’

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Analysis of the Roman pottery assemblage suggested a fairly narrow date range of mid-first to early second century occupation, which is broadly in line with the fairly limited Roman assemblage recorded at Record Street, but less so than an unattributed 2009 evaluation at Clwyd Street, from which material dating to the 4th century was tentatively identified’
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‘Although the significance of the Roman finds at Nant Clwyd y Dre and other sites within Ruthin is individually quite limited, collectively they do infer that there was a settlement, most probably a vicus in the vicinity of the centre of Ruthin. The early date of the finds at Nant Clwyd y Dre and the reasonable proportion of Samian ware within the pottery assemblage suggest a military association. The site is located on a promontory close to the route between Corwen and St Asaph, which would be a naturally defensible place for a settlement. ‘

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South of Ruthin there is the site of a possible Roman Temple identified by aerial photography, it is now a scheduled monument

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So who knows what else lies beneath the streets of Ruthin ……or indeed the Castle…..

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