# Margidunum > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Margidunum > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Margidunum.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margidunum > Source revision: 1322420441 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Roman settlement in Nottinghamshire}} {{Use dmy dates|date = March 2020}} {{Use British English|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox ancient site |name=Margidunum |type=Settlement |designation1_number={{Listed building England|1006395}} |designation1_offname=Margidunum Roman Station |designation1=Scheduled Ancient Monument |website= |condition=Buried remains |public_access=Footpath |epochs=[Romano-British](/source/Romano-British) |coordinates={{coord|52|58|2|N|0|57|35|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} |native_name= |region=[Nottinghamshire](/source/Nottinghamshire), [England](/source/England) |location=[Bingham](/source/Bingham%2C_Nottinghamshire) |alt= |caption=1927 plan of Margidunum |image=Plan of Margidunum 1927.png |alternate_name= }} thumb|View towards Margidunum '''Margidunum''' was a Roman settlement on the [Fosse Way](/source/Fosse_Way) at Castle Hill near present-day [Bingham](/source/Bingham%2C_Nottinghamshire), in [Nottinghamshire](/source/Nottinghamshire), England. The site is a protected [Scheduled Monument](/source/Scheduled_monument).{{NHLE|num=1006395|desc=Margidunum Roman Station|access-date=26 April 2020}} == Description == Margidunum in Latin means 'marly fort' ([marl](/source/marl) is a lime-rich clay soil).{{Cite web|url=http://www.binghamheritage.org.uk/history_of_bingham/roman/buildings_at_margidunum.php|title=Buildings at Margidunum|website=www.binghamheritage.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-26}} However, archaeologist Felix Oswald expected that the Romans would have adopted an existing place name and he determined its Celtic meaning to be "the fort of the king's plain", the raised ground being a suitable position for the hill-fort of the king of the [Coritani](/source/Corieltauvi) tribe. The [Antonine Itinerary](/source/Antonine_Itinerary), a 2nd-century Roman register of places and roads, (Iter Britanniarum VI and VIII) locates Margidunum as MARGIDVNO midway between [Ratae](/source/Ratae_Corieltauvorum) ([Leicester](/source/Leicester)) and [Lindum](/source/Lindum_Colonia) ([Lincoln](/source/Lincoln%2C_England)) on the Fosse Way.{{Cite web|url=https://roadsofromanbritain.org/iter6.html|title=Iter VI|website=roadsofromanbritain.org|access-date=2020-04-27}}{{Cite web|url=https://roadsofromanbritain.org/iter8.html|title=Iter VIII|website=roadsofromanbritain.org|access-date=2020-04-27}} Finds of military equipment established that it was initially a military post in about 55–60 AD, although no parts of a fort structure have been found. Forts were sited at close intervals along the Fosse Way to protect the Roman territory from the hostile [Brigantes](/source/Brigantes) and [Iceni](/source/Iceni) tribes. A civilian settlement then developed in about 70–80 AD on either side of the Fosse Way, indicated by several simple rectangular buildings along about a 1 km stretch of the road. Two Roman villas have been found within 3 km of the settlement, as well as Roman farms in the surrounding area. A [rhomboid](/source/rhomboid)-shaped earthwork defence was built in the late 2nd century around the camp, enclosing about 7 or 8 acres. A stone wall nearly 3m wide was later built in front of the earth rampart, with two ditches beyond it. The fort was protected to the south and east by marshland. The site remained occupied until about 500 AD.{{Cite book|last=Stillwell, Richard. MacDonald, William L. McAlister, Marian Holland|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1976}} == Investigations == In 1722 [William Stukeley](/source/William_Stukeley) visited the site and documented, in his 1724 book ''Itinerarium Curiosum'', his observations of Roman foundations of walls, floors of houses and regularly-spaced oak posts''.'' In 1896 'Castle Hill Close' field on the 'Foss Road' was reported as the supposed site of the important Roman station of Margidunum, with Roman pottery and coins found there.{{Cite book|title=Notts & Derbyshire Notes and Queries|date=December 1896|pages=183}} Excavations were conducted by [Nottingham University](/source/University_of_Nottingham) in the 1920s by [Felix Oswald](/source/Felix_Oswald_(archaeologist)), and again in the 1960s by [Malcolm Todd](/source/Malcolm_Todd_(archaeologist)). Oswald found prehistoric artefacts including a [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age_Britain) flint arrowhead, polished stone axes and bronze socketed [celts](/source/Celt_(tool)). The 20th-century excavations discovered the stone walls and stone slab floors or beaten clay floors of over 20 Roman buildings at the site. Foundations of three large adjacent buildings show that they were the most elaborate at the site. Numerous fragments of window glass, roof tiles and evidence of underfloor heating (floors raised on pillars and box flue tiles) indicate that one of these buildings was a bathhouse. It would have had stone walls, whereas the other buildings were timber-framed with [wattle and daub](/source/wattle_and_daub) walls. The largest building had no internal divisions, so it was likely to be a public building. Fragments of decorated wall plaster, mosaic floor tiles, pottery, a grid iron, charred timbers, several wells, water tanks and coins were also discovered. The oldest [Claudian](/source/Claudius) well was lined with oak planks encased in clay, whereas the later wells were stone-lined. The wells drew water from the underground source of the nearby Newton Springs. Oswald identified the route of two other roads crossing the camp. He deduced that one of these was probably used to transport lead from the [Lutudarum](/source/Lutudarum) lead-mines in [Derbyshire](/source/Derbyshire), because a large lead ingot inscribed C.IVL.PROTI.BRIT.LVT.EX.ARG. was found in 1848 at Hexgrave Park near [Mansfield](/source/Mansfield).{{Cite web|url=http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/tts/tts1927/margidunum1.htm|title=Margidunum: An account of the excavations on the site of the Roman station on the Fosse Way, new Bingham, Notts. [Paper read before the Thoroton Society]|last=Oswald|first=Felix|date=28 January 1927|website=www.nottshistory.org.uk|access-date=26 April 2020}}{{Cite book|last=Patterson|first=Mark|title=Roman Nottinghamshire|publisher=Five Leaves Publications|year=2011|isbn=9781907869129}} The site of Margidunum now lies mostly across three fields but it is partially covered by a roundabout built in 1968{{Cite web|url=https://www.binghamheritage.org.uk/history_of_bingham/roman/|title=Roman Occupation}} == Nearby sites == The Roman fort of ''Ad Pontem'' (at [East Stoke](/source/East_Stoke%2C_Nottinghamshire) near [Newark](/source/Newark-on-Trent)) was 10 miles further north along the Fosse Way. It was also a small 1st-century fort with a similar rhomboid-shaped earthwork enclosure. A settlement developed on the site and Roman occupation continued into the 4th century. Two [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age) huts were also found there.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=322257|title=Pastscape - Detailed Result: AD PONTEM ROMAN FORTLET|website=www.pastscape.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-26}} Roman camps have also been discovered at nearby [Calverton](/source/Calverton%2C_Nottinghamshire) and [Farnsfield](/source/Farnsfield), and they too are Scheduled Monuments.{{NHLE|num=1018264|desc=Two Roman camps 350m north east of Lodge Farm, Calverton|access-date=2020-02-21|fewer-links=yes}}{{National Heritage List for England|num=1018121|desc=Roman camp 470m south of Carr Banks Farm|access-date=27 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}} == References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} Category:Roman towns and cities in England Category:Scheduled monuments in Nottinghamshire Category:Archaeological sites in Nottinghamshire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Margidunum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margidunum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margidunum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.