CORINIUM DOBUNNORUM
(Cirencester) Gloucestershire, England.
On the main road (Ermin Street) from Londinium to Colonia Glevensis, ca. 25.5
km SW of the latter. Mentioned by Ptolemy (
Geog.
2.3.25) and in the
Ravenna Cosmography. The site was
occupied by a cavalry fort ca. A.D. 43-70, during which
time a vicus grew up to the N. After the abandonment
of the fort the vicus developed into the civitas capital of
the Dobunni, and ca. 100 ha were enclosed when a
wall was built in the 3d c. It is possible that it became the
capital of Britannia Prima in the 4th c., and occupation
seems to have continued well into the 5th c. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to the capture of the town by
the Saxons after the battle of Dyrham in A.D. 577.
Most of the buildings of Corinium lie buried deep below the modern town, but excavations in 1958-68 have
recovered most of the street plan, which divided the town
into rectangular insulae, the circuit of the defenses, including the NE gate, much of the plan of the forum and
basilica, a market hall, and a number of shops and town
houses. The only principal monument above ground is
the amphitheater, ca. 200 m SW of the town; it is concealed beneath grass-covered banks, but its shape and
size can be appreciated. Excavations have shown that it
was first constructed early in the 2d c. A.D., with timber
walls retaining the cavea of piled earth; the timber was
replaced by masonry later in the century.
A length of the town wall can be seen on the NE side
of the circuit; in some other places it can be traced as a
substantial linear earthwork concealing both the wall
and the rampart behind it. The course of the river Churn
appears to have been moved at an early date, from its
natural position through the town center into an artificial
channel running round the N and E perimeter; it was
subsequently used as part of the defenses. At least four
phases of fortification have been distinguished: the first,
erected late in the 2d c. A.D., consisted only of a ditch
and an earth bank, although interval towers and the
NE gate were constructed of masonry. The bank was
faced with a stone wall, 1.1-3 m thick, in the 3d c. A.D.,
and external towers were added later. The position of the
walls at the SW end of the basilica, which, together with
the forum, is known to have been erected in the late 1st
c. A.D., have been marked out on the modern street
surface near the junction of Tower Street and the Avenue.
Both basilica and forum underwent considerable modifications in the 4th c.
A new and larger museum contains an excellent collection of sculptured and inscribed stones, pottery, metalwork, and a number of mosaics, including an Orpheus mosaic from a villa just outside the town to the N.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Buckman & Newmarch,
Remains of
Roman Art in Cirencester, Corinium (1850)
I; F. Haverfield, “Roman Cirencester,”
Archaeologia 69 (1920) 161-209
MI; P.D.C. Brown et al., interim reports in
AntJ
41-47 (1961-67)
MPI; J.M.C. Toynbee,
Art in Roman
Britain (1962) passim
I; J. S. Wacher, “Roman Cirencester,”
ArchJ 122 (1965) 203-6; id.,
The Towns of Roman
Britain (1974) 289-315
MPI; P. Cullen,
Britannia 1
(1970) 227-39
MPI; A. D. McWhirr,
AntJ 53 (1973)
191-218
MPI.
J. S. WACHER
