Digging Roman Caerleon: The Priory Field Excavation, 2007 -2010

Speakers: Dr Peter Guest and Prof. Andrew Gardner

Abstract:  A major excavation in Priory Field, carried out between 2007 and 2010, produced ground breaking new evidence for Caerleon’s rich Roman – and early ‘post-Roman’ – history. The excavation uncovered the front range of a large masonry courtyard store-building, which was the first building of its kind excavated to modern standards in the Roman Empire. Some of the exceptional finds recovered include a rare example of an elaborately decorated horse’s headpiece and several sets of dismantled body armour. This talk by the excavation’s directors will highlight some of the Priory Field project’s most significant discoveries, describing when the courtyard building was built, what was stored in it, when it ceased to be used, and what happened to it in the years after the ending of Roman Britannia at the beginning of the 5th century.