Roman Discoveries - Guildhall Shopping Centre Excavation

About

The Guildhall Shopping Centre opened for business 50 years ago in 1976.

Prior to the development a series of archaeological excavations were undertaken by Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit in order to record the buried archaeology before it was lost forever beneath the new Centre.

The results re-wrote the early history of the city and demonstrated that Exeter had started life as a Roman fortress in about AD 55.

This talk shows how the archaeological remains beneath the Guildhall Shopping Centre were at first excavated and then interpreted to tell the story of this part of the Roman fortress which included barracks, not only for the legionaries of the Second Augustan Legion, but also for non-combatant troops who worked in a metal-working factory the remains of which were also revealed.

The second part of the talk follows the lives of a Romano-British family who occupied the same site long after the legion had departed.

They lived in a luxurious stone-built town house (complete with mosaic floors and its own bathhouse) constructed in the mid-fourth century.

Information about accessibility is available on our Access page.

£5.50

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