Burgh Castle Roman Site
Encyclopedia
Burgh Castle is the site of one of several Roman
shore forts
constructed around the 3rd Century AD, to hold cavalry as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain; and is located on the summit of ground sloping steeply towards the estuary of the River Waveney
, in the civil parish of Burgh Castle
, in Norfolk
. This fort was possibly known as Gariannonum
, although the single record that describes it as such may also mean the Roman site at Caister-on-Sea
. Between the mid 7th and 9th centuries the site was possibly occupied by a monastic settlement, and in the 11th and 12th centuries a Norman
motte and bailey castle existed on the site.
, name that appears in a single source; the Notitia Dignitatum
, a Roman Army “order of battle” from about AD 400. The identification was once thought secure, but is now thought doubtful by specialists.
Burgh, is derived from the same Old English language
word burh
(whose dative singular and nominative/accusative plural form byrig sometimes underlies modern place-names, and which had dialectal variants including burg
; it was also sometimes confused with beorh, beorg, 'mound, hill', on which see Hall 2001, 69-70). The Old English word was originally used for a fortified town or proto-castle
, as in Burgh Castle, and was related to the verb beorgan (cf. Dutch and German bergen), meaning "to keep, save, make secure". In German
Burg means castle
or fortress, though so many towns grew up around castles that it almost came to mean city
, and is incorporated into many placenames, such as Hamburg
, Flensburg
and Strasbourg
.
Coin and pottery evidence on the site indicates that the occupation of the fort dates from the mid 3rd century AD, with Roman occupation continuing up to the early 5th century AD when the integration of Roman and Saxon traditions appear.
The fort site was excavated by the archaeologist Charles Green between 1958 and 1961, and apparently revealed the remains of a timber monastic church, in the southwest corner of the fort, with an Christian cemetery just to the north of it, which contained some 144 interments as well as pits containing re-interred bones. A cluster of oval huts towards the north-east angle of the fort may be interpreted as cells or workshops. Coins and `Ipswich' ware carry the occupation well into the C8th and possibly C9th. However a detailed report by Stephen Johnson of Norfolk Museums Service in 1983 (East Anglian Archaeology 20) concluded that there was no conclusive evidence for any monastic settlement in Burgh Castle itself.
, in the county of Norfolk
. It is located on the eastern bank of the southernmost part of Breydon Water
, formed at the mouths of the Rivers Ant
, Bure
, Yare
, and Waveney
. Today however it is separated from the estuary by mudflats. The Roman Shore Fort site of Caister-on-Sea
lies a few miles to the northeast.
The site is owned by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, with the walls in the care of English Heritage. The site is freely open to the public.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
shore forts
Saxon Shore
Saxon Shore could refer to one of the following:* Saxon Shore, a military command of the Late Roman Empire, encompassing southern Britain and the coasts of northern France...
constructed around the 3rd Century AD, to hold cavalry as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain; and is located on the summit of ground sloping steeply towards the estuary of the River Waveney
River Waveney
The Waveney is a river which forms the border between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads.-Course:The source of the River Waveney is a ditch on the east side of the B1113 road between the villages of Redgrave, Suffolk and South Lopham, Norfolk...
, in the civil parish of Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, near Great Yarmouth, some 6 km west of Great Yarmouth and within the Broads National Park.-Roman Fort:...
, in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. This fort was possibly known as Gariannonum
Gariannonum
Gariannonum, or Gariannum, was a Saxon Shore fort in Norfolk, England. The Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman Army “order of battle” from about AD 400, lists nine forts of the Saxon Shore in south and east England, among which one was called Gariannonor...
, although the single record that describes it as such may also mean the Roman site at Caister-on-Sea
Caister Roman Site
Caister Roman Site is a Roman Saxon Shore fort, located in Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk. It was constructed around AD 200 for a unit of the Roman army and navy and occupied until around 370-390 AD...
. Between the mid 7th and 9th centuries the site was possibly occupied by a monastic settlement, and in the 11th and 12th centuries a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
motte and bailey castle existed on the site.
Etymology
In Roman times, possibly known as GariannonumGariannonum
Gariannonum, or Gariannum, was a Saxon Shore fort in Norfolk, England. The Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman Army “order of battle” from about AD 400, lists nine forts of the Saxon Shore in south and east England, among which one was called Gariannonor...
, name that appears in a single source; the Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum
The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, a Roman Army “order of battle” from about AD 400. The identification was once thought secure, but is now thought doubtful by specialists.
Burgh, is derived from the same Old English language
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
word burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
(whose dative singular and nominative/accusative plural form byrig sometimes underlies modern place-names, and which had dialectal variants including burg
Burg
Burg is the word for castle in various Germanic languages.Burg or Bürg or Buerg may refer to:*Burg bei Magdeburg, a city in Germany*Den Burg, a town in the Netherlands* Burg, former name of Melber, Kentucky...
; it was also sometimes confused with beorh, beorg, 'mound, hill', on which see Hall 2001, 69-70). The Old English word was originally used for a fortified town or proto-castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, as in Burgh Castle, and was related to the verb beorgan (cf. Dutch and German bergen), meaning "to keep, save, make secure". In German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Burg means castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
or fortress, though so many towns grew up around castles that it almost came to mean city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, and is incorporated into many placenames, such as Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
.
Roman Fort
The fort is roughly rectangular measuring (internally) approximately 205 m (672.6 ft) by 100 m (328.1 ft). The walls on the north, east, and much of the south side are largely intact, standing at a height of approximately 4.6 m (15.1 ft) and measuring up to 3 m (9.8 ft) thick at the base. They have a core of mortared flint rubble and an external and internal facing of prepared flint and red tile or brick in alternating bands. Against the outer face of the walls there are six solid bastions of pear-shaped plan spaced symmetrically, two on the south wall, one each at the north east and south east angles, one slipped from position on the north wall, and one below the south wall where it has fallen. The west wall has at some time in the distant past collapsed down the underlying hillside and into what was once an estuary but is now a marsh, and nothing of it is now visible. Breydon Water is all that is left of the estuary this fort once overlooked.Coin and pottery evidence on the site indicates that the occupation of the fort dates from the mid 3rd century AD, with Roman occupation continuing up to the early 5th century AD when the integration of Roman and Saxon traditions appear.
Monastic Settlement
Burgh Castle has been suggested as the site of ‘’Cnobheresburg’’, the unknown place (a castrum or fort) in East Anglia, where in about 630 the first Irish monastery in southern England was founded by Saint Fursey as part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission described by Bede. Historians find many arguments against this location, but are unable to agree on a better one.The fort site was excavated by the archaeologist Charles Green between 1958 and 1961, and apparently revealed the remains of a timber monastic church, in the southwest corner of the fort, with an Christian cemetery just to the north of it, which contained some 144 interments as well as pits containing re-interred bones. A cluster of oval huts towards the north-east angle of the fort may be interpreted as cells or workshops. Coins and `Ipswich' ware carry the occupation well into the C8th and possibly C9th. However a detailed report by Stephen Johnson of Norfolk Museums Service in 1983 (East Anglian Archaeology 20) concluded that there was no conclusive evidence for any monastic settlement in Burgh Castle itself.
Norman Castle
In the 11th and 12th centuries a motte was constructed in the south-west corner, using the Roman fort as a bailey. The motte was partly removed in around 1770, in 1839 it was completely levelled. The ditch was in-filled in the same year. Archaeological excavations identified a timber tower on the motte, with the bailey, of the castle located to the northeast of the motte.Location
The site is located to the west of the village and civil parish of Burgh CastleBurgh Castle
Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, near Great Yarmouth, some 6 km west of Great Yarmouth and within the Broads National Park.-Roman Fort:...
, in the county of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. It is located on the eastern bank of the southernmost part of Breydon Water
Breydon Water
Breydon Water is a massive stretch of sheltered estuary at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England. It is at gateway to the Norfolk Broads. It is the UK's largest protected wetland. It is 5 km long and more than 1.5 km wide in places...
, formed at the mouths of the Rivers Ant
River Ant
The River Ant is a tributary river of the River Bure in the county of Norfolk, England. It is 17 miles long , and has an overall drop of 25 metres from source to mouth...
, Bure
River Bure
The River Bure is a river in the county of Norfolk, England, most of it in The Broads. The Bure rises near Melton Constable, upstream of Aylsham, which was the original head of navigation. Nowadays, the head of navigation is downstream at Coltishall Bridge...
, Yare
River Yare
The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches the river connects with the navigable waterways of The Broads....
, and Waveney
River Waveney
The Waveney is a river which forms the border between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads.-Course:The source of the River Waveney is a ditch on the east side of the B1113 road between the villages of Redgrave, Suffolk and South Lopham, Norfolk...
. Today however it is separated from the estuary by mudflats. The Roman Shore Fort site of Caister-on-Sea
Caister Roman Site
Caister Roman Site is a Roman Saxon Shore fort, located in Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk. It was constructed around AD 200 for a unit of the Roman army and navy and occupied until around 370-390 AD...
lies a few miles to the northeast.
The site is owned by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, with the walls in the care of English Heritage. The site is freely open to the public.
See Also
- Roman sites in the United KingdomRoman sites in the United KingdomThere are many Roman sites in the United Kingdom that are open to the public. There are many sites that do not require special access, including Roman roads, and sites that have not been uncovered.-England:*Ambleside Roman Fort , Cumbria...
- List of Roman place names in Britain
- List of Latin place names in Britain
- Roman BritainRoman BritainRoman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
- Sub-Roman BritainSub-Roman BritainSub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
External links
- Pastscape website article: Burgh Castle
- English Heritage website: Scheduled ancient monument listing and details for Burgh Castle
- Burgh Castle, Norfolk Archeology Trust (owners of the site)
- GARIANNVM, Burgh Castle, Norfolk, Roman Britian Site