Purton
Museum
and Historical Society
Romans in Purton
On 22nd Feb, Andy Hood of Foundations Archaeology gave a talk on the excavations at Willis Way in Purton that took place in the 1980s and in 2016. The highlight of the excavations was the discovery of a 4th century Roman burial ground. The talk attracted a lot of interest and further details of the discoveries are in the attached documents (just click to open).
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The talk attracted so much attention that Andy thought that a program of test pitting in peoples back gardens would be feasible to gain a better understanding of the extent and nature of the Roman presence in Purton. 30 volunteer households were recruited and a presentation was made to the volunteers on 24th April at the Royal George in Purton. The presentation can be viewed in the document below
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Pictures from Romans in Purton
16th and 18th May
A piece of a Roman tegula (Roman roof tile) from Blacklands
1st June
22nd June
29th June
27th July
A piece of worked flint. It didn't quite make it as a blade, known as debitage
The finds trays, mostly pottery from various eras
A sociable dig in Pavenhill
28th September (photos by Anna Hodges)
Possible Iron Age pottery (needs to be confirmed by experts)
Roman grey ware. So called because it is Roman and grey
The inside of the bowl of a Roman mortar and pestle. The surface is impregnated with hard minerals to aid grinding of herbs.
Roman tessera - the building block of a Roman mosaic
Purton Voices
Over a number of years, Alec Robbins interviewed older local residents of Purton about their memories of Purton. They were recorded on cassette tapes but these have now been converted to MP3. These are available below. You can view all the interviews available by clicking on the 'skip' button, then play by clicking the 'play' button. Some of the tracks are a bit quiet and you will to make sure your computer volume is on 100%. On some of the tapes there is a gap at the start and you have to wait a bit before you hear anything