Godmanchester: DUROVIGUTUM: Godmunceaster

• Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire
• OSGB – TL 238 703

*                                    Roman fort covering 8.06 acres and defended by two V-shaped ditches measuring 7-10ft wide and 6.5ft deep, and a rampart.

*                                    A four post interval tower has been identified, and gird holes found, suggesting a granary on the site.

*                                    Finds include Saxon pottery.

60-61                             Fort was burnt down, possibly during the Boudicca uprising. Rebuilt with both rectangular and round buildings.

120                                c: Timber buildings replaced by stone ones.

2^nd C                             Dating From: Mansio measuring 315ft long with a courtyard, which had a bath house and plunge bath, also timber framed cottages, workshop and shrine.

2^nd-3^rd C                        Additions and alterations to the Mansio.

3^rd C                              Early: Basilica built measuring 78.7ft by 42.6ft.

3^rd C                              South and north gateways had central carriageways, flanking footways and gate towers. Town walls built.

3^rd C                              Late: Defended by an irregular hexagonal plan stone wall measuring 10ft thick and backed with a clay rampart 33ft wide.

3^rd C                              End: Mansio and baths burnt down when sacked by Anglo-Saxons.

369                                Town revived and bastions added to the defences. Bath house rebuilt.

4^th C                              U-shaped ditch recut to 36ft wide.

4^th C                              Late: Abandoned and robbed of building materials.

1929                              Excavated.

1949                              Excavated.

1954                              Excavated.

1956-1957                     Excavated by Huntingdonshire Archaeological Field Group.

1958-1959                     Excavated by Huntingdonshire Archaeological Field Group.

1959-1961                     Excavated by Ministry of Works.

1968-1969                     Excavated by Ministry of Public Buildings and Works.

1972                              Excavated by Cambridge Antiquarian Society.

1974                              Excavated by Cambridge Archaeological Committee.

1974-1975                     Excavated by Cambridge Archaeological Committee.

1975-1979                     Excavated by Cambridge Archaeological Committee.

1997                              Evaluated by Cambridge County Council Archaeological Field Unit.

1997-1998                     Evaluated by Cambridge County Council Archaeological Field Unit.

2002                              Evaluated by Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit.

2007                              Evaluated by Cambridge County Council Archaeological Field Unit.