Projects : Wall - the Roman Letocetum

Excavations initially focused on a series of 1st-century forts on the hilltop now occupied by the parish church and later investigated the late 3rd- or early 4th- century burgus (fortification) on Watling Street and sites along the line of the A5 bypass to the south of Wall. In the 1970s, following some excavation on the baths, work began on the mansio (inn), which was the largest of the Society’s excavations and continued into the 1980s. Some of the digging team are still active members of the Society.

The results of virtually all of the Society’s work at Wall have been published in the Transactions. The remains of the baths and mansio (owned by the National Trust and managed by English Heritage) can be visited at any time; the English Heritage site museum is manned by volunteers, the Friends of Letocetum, who also arrange talks about Wall and guided walks.

• http://www.wallromansitefriendsofletocetum.co.uk
• https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wall-roman-site
• https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/letocetum-roman-baths-and-museum

Wall, near Lichfield, has long been identified as the Etoceto of the 3rd-century Roman road-book known as the Antonine Itinerary and the Lectocetum of the later Ravenna Cosmography. Its Roman name is likely to have been Letocetum, which is derived from British or early Welsh words meaning “grey wood”. Roman remains were still visible there in the 17th and 18th centuries, including a substantial wall that gave the village its name. Archaeological excavations in the 19th and early 20th centuries revealed baths, a mansio (inn), a cemetery and a stone-walled burgus (fortification) which was built across Watling Street in the late 3rd- or early 4th- century.

The Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society’s excavations of several sites at Wall between the late 1950s and the late 1990s were directed first by Jim Gould and then Bert Round, followed by Frank and Nancy Ball and Steven Campbell-Kelly. The Society’s interest initially focused on Wall’s military origins, which had not been explored by earlier excavators, and revealed the defences of a series of 1st-century forts on the hilltop now occupied by the parish church, and timber buildings within them. Work on the forts continued into the 1970s and was revived in the 1990s. The excavations showed that the earliest and largest Roman fort at Wall was constructed around AD60, possibly in response to Boudicca’s revolt. It was replaced by a smaller fort in about AD70, and a subsequent fort was occupied into the 2nd century. Buildings found within the forts included part of a barrack block and a possible granary, and outside the forts there was a “Punic” ditch (with one near-vertical and one gently sloping side) which formed an outer defensive line. Further away, 1st- century timber buildings along Watling Street which included a granary or store may have belonged to the earliest fort or they might have been part of a civilian settlement (vicus) that grew up outside it. The defensive ditch of the earliest fort was found near the mansio, and under the mansio buildings there were cultivation ridges containing pottery dating to around AD60.

In the 1960s the Society also investigated the late Roman burgus on Watling Street to the east of the baths and mansio, revealing the footings of its substantial late 3rd- or early 4th- century stone wall and three ditches together with earlier features including timber buildings and the original line of Watling Street. Excavations to the south of Wall, along the line of the A5 bypass, discovered a timber building constructed next to Watling Street in three phases between the late 1st to early 2nd century. Many millstone fragments were found. Near the excavation the past landscape was studied- this was one of the very few pieces of palaeoenvironmental work so far undertaken in or around Wall. Pollen grains preserved in peat below the Watling Street showed that there was alder growing in the vicinity when the road was constructed, together with elm, hazel, birch, grasses and plantain. Pollen from under the Ryknield Street which was analysed as part of the M6 Toll archaeological investigations included oak, lime, birch, heather, and cereals.

In 1971, the Society excavated part of the baths, following earlier excavations by Graham Webster which had revealed a previously unknown 1st-century baths and identified 2nd and 3rd-century construction phases. Work subsequently began on the adjacent mansio, which was the largest of the Society’s excavations and continued into the 1980s. The baths and mansio were originally partly investigated between 1912-14, but the Society’s excavations revealed two periods of timber buildings which preceded the 2nd-century stone mansio. Stones carved with figures, probably deities, which originally formed part of an earlier structure had been built into the foundations of the stone mansio.

A small excavation on the south side of Watling Street in 1980-81 before the construction of bungalows revealed remains of several phases of Roman buildings dating from the 1st century onwards. The discoveries included a substantial building which may have been entered through a colonnade, and a stone used in a later structure that was carved with a man’s name.

The huge amount of information from the Society’s excavations has not only considerably added to that derived from previous work at Wall but has also contributed to subsequent archaeological investigations including excavations on the route of the M6 Toll motorway. These revealed another cemetery along Ryknield Street to the south-east of Wall, a farmstead, a pottery kiln, and a large aisled building at Hammerwich which may have been part of a villa.

Reports in the Transactions on the Society’s excavations at Wall describe the structures and objects that were found and include reports by specialists on some types of Roman pottery such as samian ware, which was made in Gaul (France) and mortaria (mixing bowls), most of which were made in north Warwickshire. There are also prehistoric flint tools which were used by people living at Wall long before the Romans, and fragments of medieval pottery from the village that followed the Roman town. The Transactions also include articles about architectural details from Wall, the remarkable carved stones from the mansio, a now-lost bowl found in earlier excavations which is inscribed with a “Chi-Rho” Christian symbol, and the derivation of the name Letocetum.