Roman Seaton

A visit to

ROMAN SEATON With Senator Ted Gosling, local historian and Freeman of Seaton and Axe Valley Heritage Centre Curator ( joking about the Senator bit!)

The Devonshire magazine

A visit to

ROMAN SEATON

Romulus and Remus

With Ted Gosling, local historian and Freeman of Seaton.

O

ur story starts with

Axmouth Harbour which

was originally a large estuary

or drowned valley open to the sea. It was a sheet of water half a mile wide and four and a half miles long, covering the lower part of the valley we see today on what is called Seaton Marshes.

The River Axe was navigable up as far as Whitford where there was a landing stage, and remains of ships and old anchors have been found as far up as Musbury. In prehistoric times, and also in Roman times, it was one of the most important harbours in the West of England, and one of the safest anchorages.

Indeed it was the only port of consequence between the Exe and Poole. The ancient port was protected by the Iron Age Hillforts of Hawkesdown and Musbury and for a long time it was frontier country between the Dumnonii of Devon and the Durotriges of Dorset, the two main tribes in the area.

When the new Axmouth Bridge was being constructed not many years ago an ancient sword was discovered buried in the mud of the river. It was subsequently dated to the Bronze Age around 1500 BC - some 3500 years old. It is now preserved in the Exeter Museum.

It was an important port in Phoenician times and a trading post existed on the Seaton side. It was of major importance for the export of many different commodities.

The ancient roadways all led

Painted wall plaster from Honeyditches. The lower wall seems to have been painted a dark red. The cream area above had simple floral decoration.

These reside at Seaton Museum.

down to the harbour. Tin, copper, lead, silver, iron from the Mendips, wool from the Cotswolds, cattle, hides and leather - all carried on panniers by animals along these ancient roadways. There was a considerable trade with the Mediterranean and the Continent.

The Great Ridgeway road ran across Southern England, coming through Dorset, past Charton farm, along the front of Rousdon Mansion, down the Axe Cliff golf links and ending at Axmouth Harbour. Evidence of a settlement of Iron Age traders had been found on Honeyditches with their circular huts, dating at least 300 years before the Romans came.

In fact it was this trading, when

was in AD 43, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, and under the command of Aulus Plautius. It did not succeed, and he was replaced

by General Titus Flavius Vespasian, later to become Emperor himself.

He advanced along the South coast with the 2nd Augustan Legion, and his campaign was totally successful.

He fought thirty battles with the Britons overcame two powerful nations, the Belgae and the Dumnonii, he occupied more than twenty towns and also reduced the Isle of Wight, reaching Seaton in AD 49.

He established a military base at Seaton and made it his headquarters,

The Romans, when they came, were only interested in conquest, and initially they constructed four principal roads, namely Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Icknield Way and the Fosse Way, the last tow actually passing through our valley of the Axe. They made these roads as quickly as possible after their conquest and perfected them later on. After the Britons had submitted

the Britons were giving help to an insurrection on the Continent, that brought about the Roman invasion of Britain.

ferrying his troops and supplies to the harbour by sea from Weymouth, ready for his siege of Exeter. He used the existing ancient main road leading to Exeter and subsequently conquered the whole of the West.

to Roman rule the building of the new towns and country residences, or villas, commenced. For military purposes they built strongholds and fortified places which were connected by branch roads, with

The first expedition of the Romans

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A Legionary title with the mark of the 2nd Legion was discovered on Honeyditches and it is now held by Taunton Museum, and from this discovery we know that Seaton was the headquarters of the 2nd Legion for a time.

Stations for passing troops to rest overnight, having refreshment places for travellers with facilities for changing horses, whilst the dista nces were ma rked by milestones, being usually situated about 20 miles apart, representing a day’s march for the troops.

For many years it has been though that Seaton is the site of the lost Roman town of Moridunum, and the discoveries made over the years have all helped to substantiate the claim. It has long been the subject of dispute amongst the experts, some saying that Hembury Fort near Honiton was the place. Although that ancient earthwork was certainly used by the Roman troops it was only ever a camp and not a town. Others have claimed that Peak Hill above Sidmouth could have been the site.

Extensive fortifications there have been destroyed by the sea over the centuries. Budleigh Salterton has also claimed to be the site. A more recent claim has been Axminster, on the new bypass by the crossing over the River Yarty, where more Roman remains have been found.

It was certainly located somewhere between Dorchester and Exeter.

In Antonine’s Itinerary dated AS 320 it is stated that Moridunum was 36 Roman miles from Dorchester and 15 from Exeter, which places it somewhere in our vicinity. Axmouth Harbour is the

great harbour of the West, namely Axmouth. It was only later that a branch was made to Exeter, after it became the Roman Capital of the Southwest. The Icknield Way come from Norfolk, passed through

The Holcombe Mirror I n 1967, t he Devon Archaeological Society found t hat a Roma n mosaic pavement had been discovered at Uplyme by a farmer.

A Roman villa was found and under one of the floors, in an old pit, this Iron Age bronze mirror was unearthed, which appa rent ly had been placed in the pit in the first century AD.

obvious place of importance, being occupied by the Roman army from the beginning. We also know that all the ancient roads led down to the harbour. First and foremost is the great Fosse Way, which ran from the coast near Lincoln diagonally across the country to finish at the

Dorchester, Eggerdon Fort and Exeter. The total Length of the Fosse Way was 250 Roman miles.

The later Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, a learned monk from Westminster, who lived at the end of the 14th Century, is also a good authority and confirms the above.

In Camden’s Britannia, published in 1623, we read as follows: “Seaton, formerly a fine harbour, but now so choked with sand heaped before the mouth of them by the ebbing and flowing of the sea, that the benefit is almost quite lost. Here at Seaton the inhabitants endeavoured to cut out a harbour and proceed under the Great Seal for that purpose but now there remains no foundation of that work. That is the Moridunum of Antonius which is situated between Isca and Durnovoria (if the book of Antonines Itinerary be not faulty), I should conjecture both from the distance and signification of the name. For Moridunum is the same in Britain that Seaton is in English, namely a town upon a hill by the sea.”

William Stukeley, the antiquary, spent a considerable time in this neighbourhood in about 1776, and he says: “About half a mile from the harbour, upon higher ground on the western side, is a castle in a pasture but formerly tilled called Honey Ditches. Tis noted about that it has a ditch and perhaps walled for they dig up much squared stone there.”

Here he is referring to the Field called “The Castle” on the Tithe Map of 1840, situated below the

In the foreground - the site of the excavations of the Roman villa at Honeyditches in Seaton. The mounds are part of the excavations. It's strange to think that a couple of thousand years ago, the Romans were living here, in fact they were in charge!

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rear gate. The Pretorian gate would then be to the front, looking out on to the Harepath leading towards Colyford - today known as Harepath Road. “Harepath” is again AngloSaxon for a military way. As the postern gate was facing the sea, the enemy would be expected from the north, typical of a Roman Fort, whereas the Saxons would have expected the Danes coming from the sea.

Seaton's

Roman past

Villa site and where the Bath House was discovered in 1969, close to Boswell Way and Venborough Close.

Around it was an oval earthbanked Fort which was apparently the first fort, built to protect the military base. Nearby were discovered the remains of two long timber buildings each over 100 feet long, which have been identified as the barracks for the troops of the 2nd Legion. Immediately below the Castle Field is Lydgates, a field on the Tithe Map and now the name of a residential road. “Lydgate” is Anglo-Saxon for “postern gate” or

Later on a second Fort was built in the second century on top of Bunts Knoll or Couchill. Once again squared stone was found in great quantities, and the square Fort certainly commanded the whole of the estuary and the harbour. In 1865 Peter Orlando Hutchinson, the antiquary from Sidmouth, reported that a man called Robins had told him that he had been employed about two years before to take away the stone, and they had removed scores of cartloads. He said the stone lay in the ground in lines as if they had been thrown into trenches and covered over. The site is now covered with housing, and part of the site was quarried by the old

Seaton Brickworks. The fact that there was such a permanent Fort built here is good evidence for the town of Moridunum to be close by.

In the Seaton and Axmouth areas are the sites of two Roman

established the important town of Isca Dumnoniorum at the place we now call Exeter, but this was both the westernmost outpost of Roman might and the westernmost centre of Romanised life. Detachments were sent to guard the tin mines of Cornwall's and to keep watch on the North Devon coast for raiders from South Wales and Lundy, and also to police the Exmoor tribes. Apart from this there is no positive evidence of Romanising the province outside Exeter, expect in the Seaton and Axmouth areas.

Villas, unique in Devon. The Roman Province of “Britannia Prima” - that’s what it was called during their occupation - was never Romanised to any great extent. At the old British fortress of Caerwise (the camp above the water) General Vespasian

Here there is plenty of evidence of Roman settlement both on Honeyditches and at Holcombe near Uplyme. Another villa has been located at nearby Membury, but any others are only to be found in the east. The Holcombe Villa was also prosperous and was occupied until

Honeyditches Roman Site 0

25

feet

0

metres

100 25

Timber Buildings

W

r.b. tr ack

1st Century Occupation

r.b. track X

Barn Complex

Z

Bath House Enclosure Ditch Stone Buildings

Y

W, X. Y, Z - excavation ditches

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the hill in Moridunum, the Roman town. Another Roman Fort was at Woodbury, just outside Axminster, on the ancient crossroads of the Fosse Way and the Icknield Way.

The excavations at Honeyditches, Seaton. Picture is circa 1969 - if you're the girl in the picture, please get in touch with the magazine.

The semi-circular bath beside the hot room still preserving its plastered floor and walls.

the 4th century. An ornate hand mirror found there is in the British Museum, and a replica was made for Exeter Museum. The Romans also established Signal Stations as a warning system to protect their settlements and villas which mainly comprised the more prosperous area to the east. There was one on the top of Haven Cliff which later became a fire beacon station in the Middle Ages. Axmouth was a known Roman Station called Uxelis.

Several coins have been found over the years in our Valley.

At Colyford, once known as Colyford Ville, Stukeley in the late 1700’s speaks of stone vaults existing there. It was most likely a Roman Station on the main road. At Beer the Romans mined the famous stone at the Quarries and they used it extensively in their building work.

It was also exported by sea both

Honeyditches Villa. Beers-stone ashlar quions and chert walling on the outside of the bath.

from Beer beach and from the harbour. The Beer stone quarries were started by the Romans and are the largest underground complex in the West Country. They extend over 73 acres, but two-thirds is

'Honeyditches what's in the name?

The origin of this name relates to very sticky mud - nothing to do with honey apart from being sticky!' still closed to the public and not yet properly explored. However, the part that is open is well worth a visit. Beer stone is very suitable for carving work, being very soft initially but hardens on exposure to the elements. It has

been used on many of our ancient buildings, including, The Tower of London and particularly Traitors Gate, Windsor Castle, Winchester Cathedral and, of course, Exeter Cathedral. It has been used in 24 Cathedrals altogether and in nearly all of Devon’s Churches. It has also been used abroad, especially in America. Katherine Parr’s tomb in Sudeley Castle at Winchcomb, Gloucestershire, is made of Beer stone, no doubt due to the fact that Beer was part of her dowry when she married King Henry VIII. There were many stonemasons employed at the Quarries under the Romans.

Some say there were up to 400 altogether, if you include the drovers attending to the horses, the blacksmiths and all the ancillary trades. Where did they all live?

Certainly not in Beer which was just a fishing village adjoining the beach.

It could be that they all lived over

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The Honeyditched site on the slopes of Seaton Down Hill, has been one of the most important and puzzling Roman sites in Devon. It had been occupied as a favoured site by successive farming communities from 4000 BC down to the Roman conquest. The circular houses with thatched roofs were already there and in about AD 200 they were replaced by a series of long stone buildings, each over 200 feet long.

The earliest recorded discovery at Honeyditches was in 1659, when buried stone foundations were exposed during hedge removal.

From 1862 onwards further excavations were carried out by the lord of the manor, Sir Walter Trevelyan. P.O. Hutchinson from Sidmouth, the well known local antiquary, took an active part and the results were published in the Transactions of the Devonshire Associat ion in 1868.

The explorations first located the site of the higher Roman Bath House, with its hypocaust, large quantities of roofing tiles, some pieces of Roman glass, and fragments of tessellated pavement. The important title of the 2nd Legion was also found at this time. Other Roman remains were found as far down as the present housing development in Honeyditches Drive and Seaton Down Close. The total area of land involved is over eight acres, much more than just a Villa.

A floor tile from Honeyditches

Sir Walter Trevelyan was convinced that he had found the lost Roman town, and to record the fact he had the word “Moridunum” in large black letters placed along the old wall on the seafront which was the remains of the old Fort built by Henry VIII and inspected

Seaton's

Roman past

by him in 1539. This had been demolished to make was for the new Esplanade in 1836, when the Trevelyans were planning to develop Seaton as an upmarket seaside resort. The letters were taken down in 1937 when the then

revealed two stonebuilt rooms and a hypocaust heating system. Very few mosaics have been discovered in Devon. There was also evidence of decorated plaster friezes, the most sophisticated to be found in Devon to date. A Roman well was also uncovered and an extensive barn complex.

In later years various excavations have revealed a complex sequence of occupation of the site from the 1st to the 4th centuries, and even later occupation in medieval times.

Roman remains extend under the recent Honeyditches Drive housing development. After building had commenced it was found to be far more extensive than first realised, but by then it was too late for preservation. That was in 1978.

In 1984 a Geophysical Survey

there is stands today - a site that is protected for the time being.

In 1969 the second Bath House was discovered some 200 feet away from the original villa site. This extensive complex, connected to the higher site by gravelled paths, had been built in the early 2nd century and consisted of a cold room adjacent to a well-house, a warm room and a hot room with a hypocaust heating system constructed of Beer stone, also a semi-circular plaster-lined bath.

Two further rooms had been added and amongst the debris was some painted wall plaster. It appears to have been deliberately demolished in about 200 AD. Later some of the walls were used in erecting a small cottage on the site, probably in the 12th century.

The Beer stone quarries were started by the Romans and are the largest underground complex in the West Country, covering some 73 acres Seaton Urban District Council built the public toilets there. On the adjoining man-made mound known as “The Burrow” had stood a Pharos, or Lighthouse, since Roman times.

It was still there in Stukeley’s time and afterwards became various forts with cannons for defending the harbour.

It was Easter 1921 when General Wright, who had built Seaton Down House in 1912, was planting fruit trees on the lower part of his ground. He found large stones in the soil which caused him some concern, but the workmen continued and it was Good Friday, at a depth of 2ft. 6ins. to 3ft. that a Roman tessellated pavement was discovered. He called in Professor Clayden from Beer, who was the Principal of the College of the Southwest, now Exeter University, who dated the find to about 200 AD. It proved to be an elaborate mosaic which was removed to Exeter Museum. Further digging

Roman Bronze Centaur - found at Sidmouth Beach.

was undertaken of the whole site and this indicated the existence of more structures on the site. As a result East Devon District Council decided not to proceed with further housing development until more comprehensive excavations have been carried out. The whole site has been Scheduled as an Ancient Monument of National Importance by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, now the Department of the Environment, in 1952, this was extended in 1969 to include the lower second Bath House, and again extended in 1985. And

This site remained exposed to the elements for seven years, from 1969 to 1976, due to the general apathy of various authorities involved. During this period other extensive Roman remains were found in front of Exeter Cathedral, and these were considered to be of more importance. After much discussion the Exeter remains were eventually filled in again and cannot now be seen by the public. As usual there was no money available for the Seaton remains and so nothing was decided. Eventually the Seaton Chamber of Trade decided to make

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a move and have them infilled until a later date, the Chamber was a local force of some influence, and organised the proper infilling with sand under the watchful eye of a representative from the Department of the Environment.

This was done in March 1976.

East Devon District Council gave £30 towards the project, and the Chamber paid the remainder of the cost which was a further £200.

So far all the excavations outlined above have only looked at isolated limited locations and large areas still remain to be investigated. The experts are still uncertain about the true nature of the site. Because of the extensive Roman remains discovered over such a wide area there is considerable doubt over its interpretation. It is usually referred to as a Roman Villa, but if so it must have been the residence of an extremely wealthy and affluent family - a very large rural estate.

On the other hand there is the distinct possibility that it could be a town or a coastal settlement, indeed it most certainly could be Moridunum.

The excavations have produced a large and wide selection of small finds. Most of the early finds of the 1921 excavation were destroyed in the Exeter Blitz, but at least one section of the mosaic pavement has survived and is in Exeter Museum.

Roman coins, tile fragments and other chance finds have occurred over the years in and around Seaton and the Harbour. Unfortunately no proper record has been kept and the finds have either been lost or dispersed into private hands.

One such Roman coin was found in 1895 when workmen were digging the foundations at Bridgewater Place, next to the former Royal Clarence Hotel, and close to the ancient causeway leading down to the harbour. It was identified as a coin of Valens, Emperor of the East, and is dated around AD 364.

It is thought that the Honeyditches site developed into a pottery factory, supplying the Roman Legions after the military had moved away from Seaton. There is also evidence of bronze smelting also

Slate roofing tile note that it's been shaped so the final roof would have an attractive 'fish scale' pattern.

being carried out. The Romans withdrew from the area in about AD 410 and there is no doubt that the settlement continued to exist for a time, but eventually it succumbed to the warlike tribes who once again had a free hand in the area.

Evidence has been found that the Villa buildings were in fact burnt down. The Kingdom of Dumnonia continued and was the last of the old English kingdom to survive.

And so it remained until conquered by the Saxons, coming from the east, who defeated the British at the Battle of Bindon, above Axmouth, in AD 614 and occupied the valley of the Axe, establishing Colyton as their major centre here. However, the port still remained important and was maintained to continue the trade with Brittany and the Continent.

It has always been the intention that the lower Roman Bath House should be re-excavated and restored as a special feature, to be open for the public at large to inspect. The field where it is situated is now open to the public with access from the

Roman Way. East Devon District Council, who own most of the land involved. Have agreed to erect an Information Board on the site.

There is no doubt that Seaton has something unique and it could be very important in attracting tourists to the town. After all it is probably the only Roman remains outside Exeter in Devon that could be put on public view.

The larger and more visionary scheme would be to cover the Bath House complex with a purpose-built Visitors Centre in due course. Ample car parking would be available and the centre would have a full display about the Roman occupation of the Axe Valley, together with the story of the history of Axmouth Harbour, the Iron Age line of Hillforts, the frontier country of Dumnonia, the coming of the Saxons, the Battle of Brunenburgh with the Danes in the Axe Valley, the local conflict in the Civil War when both Stedcombe House and Colcombe Castle were destroyed, and the local involvement in the Monmouth

Rebellion. What a story we can tell.

The sea and the river dominate the landscape from Seaton Down hill as they have always done. The Romans would have seen the same green world in the valley that we see today and although much has changed, the outline remains the same. I often wonder what they thought of this strange , so green and beautiful in the summer, so packing the warmth of the Mediterranean sun in the winter.

Beer stone hypercaust pillar, several of which were found on site at Honeyditches and are now to be seen in Seaton Museum

References and Acknowledgements The papers of the late Roy Chapple, Norman Winfrey and Eileen Gosney.

Records from the Seaton Museum archive.

Section of lead pipe found at Honeyditches. Note the folded joint, where the sheet has been folded to form a tube. Plumbum is the Roman word for lead, hence the word plumber, an ancient term derived from the Roman latin term.

Roman window glass - found at Honeyditches - a very rare find.

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