ABONAE
(Sea Mills) Bristol, England.
Situated 19.2 km NW of Bath (Aquae Sulis), near the
mouth of the tidal river Avon (for which the settlement
is named), a small harbor made by the confluence of
the river Trym. Military artifacts indicate a fort on this
site soon after the Roman invasion of A.D. 43. Stamped
tiles of Legio II Augusta indicate a continuing military
presence in the 2d c., perhaps supervising the shipping
of supplies to garrisons in Wales. A civilian settlement
also grew up, covering ca. 5.2 ha. The site was abandoned at the end of the Roman period.
The two known streets suggest an irregular grid originating at the end of the 1st c. A number of civilian
buildings have been excavated, including a row of three
shops with stone foundations succeeding earlier timber
structures. The defenses have yet to be discovered. A
cemetery S of the town, indicated by an inscribed tombstone (
RIB 137), has been confirmed by excavation.
Finds are in the City Museum, Bristol.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Various authors in
Trans. Bristol and
Gloucestershire Arch. Soc. 45 (1923) 193-201; 61 (1939)
202-23; 64 (1945) 258-95; R. Reece, “Roman Coins
from Sea Mills,” ibid. 85 (1966) 218-20; A.L.F. Rivet,
“The British Section of the Antonine Itinerary,”
Britannia 1 (1970) 34-82 (for name).
M. G. HEBDITCH
