Exeter: A Roman Legionary Fortress and Civitas Capital

Contents

Author’s Note

General Notes

Introduction

The Roman army arrives at Exeter

The Legionary Fortress (and its stone-built bathhouse)

Extra-mural sites of the prata legionum

The fortress and its garrison at the time of the Boudican revolt

Exeter as a Roman town and Civitas Capital

Late Roman Exeter

The end of Roman Exeter and the beginning of a new story

Final Thoughts

Further reading

Index

About the Author

John Pamment Salvatore began his archaeological career in 1972 with the Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit, undertaking multi-period excavation in the historic city under the tutelage primarily of the late Christopher Henderson. After a decade ‘in the field’ he left for Birmingham University where he gained a degree in Ancient History and Archaeology before completing a Doctorate on the Roman Republican siege-camps of Numantia in Spain. Returning to Exeter in the early 1990s, he had two subsequent spells with the Exeter Unit, interspersed with eight years at English Heritage and some time as the City Archaeologist at Plymouth. He was back at the Exeter Unit (by then known as Exeter Archaeology) when it was wound up in 2011. Following the disappearance of the city’s ‘own’ unit he spent the next decade working on various archaeological projects of all periods. However, he never lost his first heartfelt attachment to Exeter and its Roman past and he began to write this account of the Roman fortress and city only two weeks after his retirement in the Christmas of 2022.