AD PONTEM
(Thorpe) Nottinghamshire, England.
On the Fosse Way 30.5 km SW of Lindum
and mentioned in the
Antonine Itinerary (477.7). A
fortlet, probably less than 1 ha in area was established
soon after A.D. 43 on a native site near to where the
Fosse Way ran close to the river Trent. The road then
probably lay farther W than the line it followed later.
A polygonal annex on the NE side of the fort was several
times larger. The fort and annex seem to have been
abandoned early in the Flavian period, but in the following years a civilian settlement grew up along the
road, the line of which was moved E. Later in the 2d c.
part of this settlement was enclosed by a single ditch,
without preventing growth outside it. The ditch remained
functional until well into the 3d c., but probably early
in the 4th c. new fortifications were erected, enclosing a
different area. A freestanding stone wall, ca. 2 m thick,
was built, with two ditches in front of it. Probably about
the middle of the 4th c. the double-ditch system was
replaced by a single wide ditch and it is possible that
external bastions were added to the wall, although none
have yet been found.
Little is known of the internal buildings. A large rectangular structure just inside the NE gate shows clearly in
aerial photographs. Partial excavations showed that it
dated to the 4th c. Its solid construction distinguishes it
from other buildings in the area, and it may have had
an administrative function (mutatio?). Other buildings,
probably shops, line the Fosse Way. A road branching
off the Fosse Way to the SE also shows in aerial photographs and may have been matched by one going in the
opposite direction to cross the river Trent. A small, isolated, squarish building, not far from the postulated SE
gate, might be interpreted as a temple. Some continuity
of settlement is suggested by sherds of Anglo-Saxon
pottery found here.
Early excavations were mostly on a small scale, but
aerial photography led to excavations in 1963 and 1965,
which demonstrated the sequence described above. Nothing is now visible above the surface. Some earlier finds,
including a rough stone relief of a Celtic god and goddess, possibly Sucellus and Nantosvelta, are in Nottingham University Museum; the remainder are in Newark
Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. S. Wacher,
JRS 54 (1964) 159-60
PI;
56 (1966) 203-4
P; J. K. St. Joseph, ibid. 43 (1953) 91;
48 (1958) 98
I; id., in J. S. Wacher, ed.,
Civitas Capitals
of Roman Britain (1966) 28
PI; J.M.C. Toynbee,
Art in
Roman Britain (1962) 156, no. 79
I; R. R. Inskeep,
Trans. Thoroton Soc. 69 (1966) 19-39
PI.
J. S. WACHER
