Silchester Amphitheatre (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castellum de Silva; Castle of the Wood

In the civil parish of Mortimer West End.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU64476260
Latitude 51.35882° Longitude -1.07546°

Silchester Amphitheatre has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Excavations between 1979 and 1985 confirmed that the Roman Amphitheatre was first constructed between 55 and 75 AD with a seating capacity of 3,600 to 3,700. It survived into the first half of C2, and some elements survived into the second stone phase. A second timber phase was dated to C2. it was replaced in stone in the early to mid C3.
There is no evidence for reuse of the amphitheatre until the late C11/early C12 when a single-aisled hall was constructed in the arena. Fulford argues that the hall may be regarded as the manor house of Silchester during this period. The amphitheatre appears to have been used as a ringwork, containing the hall and possibly one ancillary building with traces of one or more possible fighting platforms. From the early C15 until the 1970s the arena had been used as a farmyard for The Mount farmhouse, and had been metalled by C17 or early C18. (PastScape ref. Fulford)

Comments

Possible the Castellum de Silva reported to be taken by King Stephen in 1147 (but see Woodchester and Woodgarston). The original celtic placename of Calleva meant 'The Place in the Woods'. Is the Saxon place-name derived from a Latin/Saxon mix? i.e. Silva-ceastra.
The amphitheatre would have represented a ready made defence for a manor house but it seems the site was too constricted and the manor house was rebuilt slightly to the south where it had a deer park, licenced in 1204 to Ralph Bluet, significant parts of the pale surviving. The form of Bluet's C13 manor house is unknown. It was, almost certainly, near the Norman church which lies within the walls of the Roman city but was probably not otherwise defended. The Roman city walls survive to impressive height even today but the circuit is far to large to have been defensible for the medieval village (which was also by the church - but has now moved 1km west) or manor. Indeed the Roman walls have been broken through in this area to allow village expansion along the roads, rather than extending the village into the area of the old Roman city.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011957, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 24336
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 241202.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 18464.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 243 (listed in Appendix)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 50
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford)
  Fulford, Michael, 1989, The Silchester amphitheatre: excavations of 1979–85 (London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, Britannia monograph series 10) (esp. p 59–65, 175-6, 193–5)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 195
  Page, Wm (ed), 1911, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 4 p. 51- online transcription
  Allcroft, A. Hadrian, 1908, Earthwork of England (London) p. 587 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hughes, Michael, 1989, 'Hampshire Castles and the Landscape 1066-1216' Landscape History Vol. 2 p. 27-60
  Fulford, Michael, 1985, 'Excavations on the sites of the amphitheatre and forum-basilica at Silchester, Hampshire: an interim report' Antiquaries Journal Vol. 65 p 39–81 esp p. 72–7
  Michael Fulford, 1982, 'Silchester' Current Archaeology Vol. 7.11 p. 326-31 esp p. 331
  Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1982, Medieval Archaeology p. 184
  Selkirk, A., 1981, 'Round-up 1980: Silchester' Current Archaeology Vol. 7.4 p. 102-3
  1981, Country Life Vol. 170 p. 1374-5
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Potter, G.R. (ed), 1976, Gesta Stephani (Clarendon Press) p. 208

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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