BAGINTON
Warwickshire, England.
Roman
fort called The Lunt (SP344752), an almost vertical
wooded escarpment above the river Sowe, S of which is
a flat plateau. To E and W the ground slopes appreciably,
making the site an ideal location for a Roman fort. The
Roman road now called the Fosse Way is ca. 7 km to
the S.
The Lunt was discovered in 1960; subsequent excavations have defined its occupation as ca. A.D. 60-80. The
foundation date would therefore be the year of the rebellion of Queen Boudicca, not of the initial Roman
conquest. There were at least four main periods of occupation. The first military occupation was very extensive
and came during or immediately after the Boudiccan
revolt. After the suppression of the revolt the garrison
was reduced to a cohors quingenaria peditata of auxiliary
troops, and a 1.2 ha fort built. Subsequently, as the
political situation was resolved, the fort was further
reduced in size to less than 1 ha, some time before the
final abandonment ca. A.D. 80. However, there is some
structural evidence to suggest temporary military reoccupation early in the 2d c.
The 1966-73 excavations have, in the main, been an
examination of the Period 2 fort. its defenses, as with
most 1st c. Roman forts in Britain, comprised a ditch
system backed by a turf and timber rampart with three
gates. The E gate, porta principalis sinistra, has been
extensively excavated, and 45.72 m of the turf and timber
rampart has been reconstructed. The most interesting
aspect of the defenses is the sinuosity on the E side.
Excavation within the fort has shown that this unique
S-shape arose from the construction of a circular structure 32 m in diameter. Arena features of this size are
not usually found within the defenses of Roman forts,
and direct parallels for this structure have not as yet
been found. it could possibly have been connected with
the breaking of horses or with individual weapon training. its boundary was marked by a timber palisade or
fence.
Elsewhere within the fort the buildings were also constructed of timber with a wattle and daub lining. The
principia is in the normal position, at the T junction of
the via principalis and via praetoria. Within the sacellum
an unusual pit-cellar was discovered, which had been
built to store the garrison's pay chest. Four granaries
and six barrack blocks have been excavated, and over
100 rubbish pits and water storage tanks containing
stratified artifacts, principally coins, pottery, glass, military equipment. One exceptional object was a bowl of
black burnished ware of eggshell thinness polished to a
fine luster, with a central pedestal or finial in the interior,
a feature which could be a copy of a finial on late Hellenistic silver vessels from italy.
There are no non-military Roman buildings but there
is ample evidence of continued occupation within the
village of Baginton, presumably purely civil, well into
the 4th c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Baginton,”
Current Archaeology 1, 4
(1967-68) 86-89; B. Hobley, “An Experimental Reconstruction of a Roman Military Turf Rampart,”
Proc.
Seventh International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (1967)
MPI; id., “A Neronian-Vespasianic Military Site
at ‘The Lunt,’ Baginton, Warwickshire,”
Trans. Birmingham Arch. Soc. 83 (1969) 65-129
MPI; id., “The Lunt
Roman Fort, Baginton, Warwickshire. Excavations 1966-70,”
Britannia 2 (1971) 262
I; id., “Excavations at ‘The Lunt’ Roman Military Site, Baginton, Warwickshire,
1968-70—II interim Report,”
Trans. Birmingham Arch.
Soc. 85 (1971)
MPI; “The Lunt,”
Current Archaeology 3, 24 (1971) 16-21;
Britannia 3 (1972) 318-19
P.
B. HOBLEY
