Championing the archaeology of the West Midlands

Saturday 4 September 2021 from 1pm to 4:30pm, at Wall Roman site and
Wall Village Hall, Watling Street, Lichfield WS14 0AW

Organised in conjunction with the Friends of Letocetum

The museum will be accessible throughout the day until 5:00.

Programme

12:30

Doors open. Tea & coffee available

1:00

Event starts in Wall Village Hall
Welcome and brief introduction to Roman Wall (Mike Hodder)
Guidebooks available

1:30

Tour of baths and mansio (Mike Hodder)

2:45

Tea/coffee and scones in Village Hall

3:15

Site tours
Divide into two groups for either a walk around the Roman forts site (Sue Whitehouse) or a walk to the late Roman burgus (Mike Hodder) — both walks will include Watling Street and other aspects of Roman Wall

16:00

End of event
The museum will remain open until 5:00

---

Wall (Letocetum) Roman site

Mike Hodder

The most prominent Roman features in the Staffordshire village of Wall today are the stone wall footings of a bathhouse and a mansio or inn, (3) on the above map. These were excavated in 1912-14 and again in the 1970s and 1980s, and are now owned by the National Trust and managed by English Heritage. Most of the objects in the small site museum, manned by the Friends of Letocetum volunteers, were found in the 1912-14 excavations. There were other excavations in and around Roman Wall in the 1920s, 1960s, 1990s and 2000s.

A featured article in Current Archaeology 383, February 2022 page 22, entitled “The Wall ‘warrior’ in context – Exploring African identities in Roman Britain” describes new analysis of a small 1st-century AD lead figurine. It was discovered during excavations at Letocetum Roman site almost 100 years ago and is thought to represent a man from sub-Saharan Africa. The recent reinterpretation has shed intriguing light on Romano-British artistic depictions of people from sub-Saharan Africa. The above article contains better images of the figurine than the ones shown below.
The following issue of Current Archaeology, 384, March 2022, includes a reader’s letter on page 6 which offers an alternative explanation for the collapse of the figurine over that given in the previous issue.

Wall lies on the Roman Watling Street and its Roman name Letocetum is mentioned in the 3rd century Antonine Itinerary. The present, and medieval, name of the village comes from the substantial remains of the 4th-century walled enclosure or burgus, (7) on the above map, which were visible into the 19th century.

Many worked flints found in excavations indicate prehistoric occupation of the site. The earliest Roman features are two probable marching camps which are visible as cropmarks to the west and south of the village. A large fort, which may have housed part of a legion, was subsequently built on the hilltop where the church now stands, (2) on the above map. It was succeeded by smaller forts, and the Roman army left Wall in the early part of the 2nd century. Excavations have revealed the forts’ defensive ramparts and ditches and timbers buildings including a barrack block, probable centurion’s quarters of a barrack block, and a store building, possibly a granary. Buildings found beyond the defences may have belonged to a vicus or civilian settlement.

The first bathhouse, built while the forts were still occupied, was much smaller than that now visible, and there was a timber building on the site of the later stone mansio. The subsequent bathhouse had a row of rooms with two furnaces to heat some of them.

Another timber building on the mansio site had a courtyard plan, like the later stone building, and it included a well or shaft and possibly a shrine containing stones carved with deities which were built into the foundation of the stone mansio.

The bathhouse was later doubled in size with another row of rooms and its exercise hall was enlarged, and a stone mansio was built. It provided accommodation for official travellers. Following later modifications, both buildings went out of use in the 3rd century.

Other buildings have been excavated along Watling Street, including one with a colonnaded frontage and another with an iron-grilled window. Industries at Roman Wall included glassworking. Roman cemeteries have been found to the west of the baths and mansio and to the south-east, alongside the Roman Ryknield Street.

Around AD300, a stone-walled enclosure or burgus was built straddling Watling Street, one of a group of similar enclosures along this important road, including examples at Penkridge to the west and Mancetter to the east. It may have provided secure storage for produce and livestock collected as part of the annona, a tax in kind. The foundations of a wall at the south west corner were uncovered in the 1960s. On the western side a section of wall was found still standing 1.5 metres high above shallow foundations but below the ploughed soil.

A bronze bowl stamped with the Greek letters chi-rho found on the site indicates that there were Christians at Wall in the 4th century.

Lichfield, a few miles away from Wall, subsequently became the centre of a diocese and the most important settlement in the area, but a 7th century poem describing a raid on Wall in which cattle and horses were taken mentions a bishop and monks, suggesting that there may have been in a monastery inside the walls of the burgus at this time.

---

Visiting the site

The open air site, where remains of the bathhouse and mansio are located, can be accessed by visitors daily.

Details of the planned dates of opening for the museum can be found on the Friends of Letocetum website. Also on the website are details of guided tours by Dr Mike Hodder around Wall in 2022.