Temples and Shrines

The number of Mediterranean style classical temples in Britain is few, limited to only eight sites that are known to possess a substantial example, while a further 11 sites have smaller examples or have sanctuaries which could be classed as being of classical-type. The former include Buxton, Lincoln, Wroxeter, London, St Albans, Chichester, Colchester (associated with the Imperial Cult of the Divine Claudius) and Bath (the temple to Sulis Minerva), while the latter also include small classical-type temples from the military vici of the frontier zone (outside the forts of Benwell and Housesteads).

The more common type of temple in Roman Britain is the Romano-Celtic style temple (fanum), with over fifty examples known. Their distribution has a predominately southern bias, with concentrations in the south east and the south west being quite common both in town and country. These were first analysed by R. G. Collingwood (1930, and 2^nd rev. edn. with added material, 1969, 158-60) who describes them as being ‘a high, square or rectangular shrine surrounded on all sides by a portico or veranda.’. The inner shrine, or cella, commonly measured between 3.65 and 6.10m square, while the outer wall, which enclosed the ambulatory measured, externally, between 10.67 and 22.86m square. The cella would have stood higher than the surrounding enclosure wall and was lighted from windows high in the walls. The room was not intended to hold a congregation but was intended to be the focus for the ritual and to house the image of the god itself. In front of the cella, and within the area of the portico, would have stood the altar, necessary for sacrifices, along with subsidiary altars, provided by the worshippers, who, as a body, could be addressed in the enclosure or temenos (Richmond 1955, 12). Simpler forms consist of round, rectangular or polygonal structures, while the more complex forms comprise concentric rectangular, polygonal or circular walls, with the inner cella being bounded by a portico of similar shape. The simpler shrines are more common and are sometimes arranged in groups, such as the major group at the confluence of sacred springs at Springhead, Kent. Most date to the second or third centuries, with some rural ones developing later. Sometimes the more complex form occurs alongside the simpler.

Other temple styles include basilican temples, with perhaps the best example being the Walbrook mithraeum in London. Some sanctuaries were open-air shrines as Celtic holy places did not necessarily need a building. A shrine sometimes consisted of just an area of ground demarcated by a boundary ditch with perhaps only a sacred tree, statue, or a well. In the case of Springhead, Kent, there was a free-standing column (Blagg 1979; Woodfield 1978, 68-9, fig. 5), while at the shrine to the water-deity Coventina, located close to the fort of Carrawburgh on Hadrian’s Wall, the well or open-basin took the place of the central cella.

As an example of the form of sanctuaries within towns, the Roman town of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), Hampshire, possessed several temples and some minor shrines, the largest of which lay in a defined religious enclosure or ‘temple zone’ towards the east end of the town, known as Insula XXX . This is thought to lie on the site of an Iron Age precursor, maintaining its religious aspect into the Roman period. Its importance is reflected in a street that runs from this enclosure straight to the front of the forum: the mis-alignment of both to the later town grid suggests that they formed the earliest components of the town. Towards the west side of this enclose lay two Romano-Celtic temples. The northern of the two (1) is larger, having a cella 12.8m square and an external portico 4.1m wide, which also makes it the largest example known in Britain. The southern temple (2) measured 7.3m square with a portico of 3.7m in width. The floor of the larger temple was of concrete which had been raised up by 2.28m above the surrounding ground surface to form a podium. The smaller temple had a lower podium and the floor was of red tesserae. The exterior of both was found to have been rendered with red-painted stucco, while the finding of fragments of Purbeck marble wall-sheathings and mouldings during the excavation suggested elaborate interior decoration. Unfortunately no evidence remained regarding the deity worshipped at these structures, the only religious items found being two miniature clay votive lamps. Another temple of the same style (3) lay in Insula XXXV. This was smaller again, with a cella measuring 3.7m by 4.3m and a portico 2.1m wide. Within the cella a platform 0.91m high was found at the western end, presumably to carry statues. Finds from this temple included three fragments of an inscription mentioning the association with the temple of a guild of non-townsfolk, collegium peregrinorum, and five fragments of two statues, one of which may represent Mars. A polygonal temple (4) with sixteen sides, but with a circular cella 10.9m in diameter, lay in Insula VII. It was surrounded by an open enclosure which probably represented a temenos.

An example of a rural sanctuary is that found at Uley, Gloucestershire, in the Cotswolds. The sanctuary there was the site of a nemeton or Celtic sacred place, beginning with a ditched enclosure of possible Neolithic origin occupying a clearing in a forest. This enclosure may have contained sacred trees, posts or standing stones but by the late Iron Age a sequence of timber shrines occupied a central position. Around the early part of the second century AD this shrine was rebuilt in stone as a style of Romano-Celtic temple that formed the centre of an area which eventually grew into a substantial religious complex. There were ancillary buildings housing not just the temple staff but also visiting worshippers. The first phase of the stone temple consisted of a slightly rectangular cella, surrounded by an ambulatory on only three sides. The main entrance, possibly contained an elaborate classical frontage, was located on the north east side. Internally, the primary floors did not survive, but a central pit suggested either a foundation for a plinth to hold the cult statue or the site of a ritual water tank. In the later phase the frontage was extended by the addition of a projecting foundation raised well above ground level and accessed by a flight of four steps. In reconstruction drawings of the temple the excavators suggest that this foundation could have allowed the addition of perhaps four columns and a classical pediment to the temple frontage.

Bibliography

Allason-Jones, L. & McKay, B. (1985) Coventina’s Well. Chester.

Blagg, T. F. C. (1979) ‘The votive column from the Roman temple precinct at Springhead’, Arch. Cant. xcv, 233-9.

Collingwood, R. G. (1930) The Archaeology of Roman Britain. London.

Collingwood, R. G. & Richmond, I. A. (1969) The Archaeology of Roman Britain. 2^nd rev. edn. London.

Henig, M. (1984) Religion in Roman Britain. London.

Jones, B. & Mattingly, D. (1990) An Atlas of Roman Britain. London.

Lewis, M. J. T. (1966) Temples in Roman Britain. Cambridge.

Richmond, I. A. (1955) Roman Britain. London.

Wacher, J. (1995) The Towns of Roman Britain. 2^nd rev. edn.London

Woodfield, P. (1978) ‘Roman Architectural Masonry from Northamptonshire’, Northamptonshire Arch. xiii, 67-86.

Woodward, A & Leach, P. (1993) The Uley Shrines: Excavation of a ritual complex on West Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire: 1977-9. English Heritage Arch. rep. No. 17. London.