Roman Kempsey

What would you like to read about?

• The Roman milestone dedicated to the Emperor Constantine the Great
• Roman Roads through and near Kempsey
• Roman finds from archeological digs
• The Celtic Tribe who lived around Kempsey in Roman times
• Arguments for and against there being a Roman fort at Kempsey (Another page)
• Links to other Internet sites about the Romans

The Roman milestone dedicated to the Emperor Constantine the Great (A.D. 307 - 337).

This was found in about 1818 when ground was being levelled for a vegetable garden for Court House, opposite the west gate of the churchyard. According to O'Neil this was probably not it's original position as the nearest Roman Road was about a mile away. It could have previously been used as masonry for the Bishop's Palace due to the lack of suitable building stone in Kempsey.

The Victoria County History entry describes this as "an inscription found some years before 1818, lying in two pieces with other stones 4 feet deep in the west wall of the kitchen garden of the parsonage farm, north-west of the church. many of the other stones were cemented together and formed some kind of ancient foundation ; whether the incription was one of these, is not recorded. It is itself a flat slab of freestone, 33 inches high by 20 inches wide, and is now in the Worcester Museum where I have examined it. It reads as follows :-

\A_CoNST
ANTInO
PEIN
VICTO
AVG
Val(erio) Constantine P(io) fe(lici) invicto Aug(usto)
'Emperor Valerius Constantinus, pious, fortunate, unconquerable, Augustus.'

Probably the commencement of the inscription is lost ; it may have begun IMP. CAES FL. Imp(eratori) C�s(ari) Fl(avio). Flavius Valerius Constantinus was Constantine the Great, and this stone was presumably set up in his reign (A.D. 308-337). It appears to be a milestone, or rather a road-stone, of the type common in the fourth century, in which the mileage was often omitted - though here it might have been broken off. But it might conceivably be no more than an honorary slab."

Click here to go to an external site and find out more about Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome.

The stone is from the Oolites of the Cotswold Hills. It is 3 feet high, 19�" broad and 7�" thick.

Click here to read the full archaeological report by H. O'Neil on the Court House excavations.

Reference

Roman Roads through and near Kempsey

There are three possible Roman roads through and near Kempsey. One may have run along Old Road South, entering the oldest area of the village where a Roman camp might have been, and exiting possibly along Lyf's Lane (although Lyf was a Saxon chief) and continuing to the Roman settlement at Worcester.

The second runs along the side of the present M5 motorway north by Holdings Lane to Taylor's Lane, where it enters St Peter's Development.

The third, Green Street, connects Kempsey Common with the centre of the village, crossing the second Roman road mentioned above at Palmer's Cross.

Roman finds from archeological digs

Pottery, brooches and a coin from the time of the Emperor Nero were found in burial cists dug out of the gravel beds north of the church. Click here for more details. See also J. Allies

Celtic Tribe
The Celtic tribe who lived around Kempsey in Roman times were the Dobunii. Click here for a map of the Celtic Peoples of Roman Britain. (External site)

Roman Links on the Internet

Site on Roman Britain from Britannia.com, including a timeline, biographies, maps, Tacitus' account of Boudicca's Rebellion, and lists of Roman Emperors and Governors of Britain.

Roman Military Sites of Britain
An introduction to the fortresses, forts, watchtowers, temporary camps, depots and industrial sites, built by the Roman Army in Britain. Plus background material on the Roman Army and the military history of the province.

"Legio Secunda Augusta (LEG II AVG) is the title of a society of twenty-five or more enthusiasts which seeks to re-create the "living history" - in both its military and civilian aspects - of Roman Britain during the first two centuries AD. The Second Augustan Legion landed in Britain at the time of the Claudian invasion in 43AD under the command of the future Emperor Vespasian and fought its way through the southern part of the country. Eventually - some thirty years later - the legion established a major base at Isca Silurum (present day Caerleon, near Newport in South Wales). Thereafter detachments from it saw service in various parts of Britain (for example, in helping to build Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland) and Europe." It is possible that Kempsey was in their jurisdiction. This site has nice pictures of Roman soldiers.

References:

Allies, Jabez 1840 The Ancient British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-lore of Worcestershire

O'Neil, Helen 1956 Court House Excavations, Kempsey Worcestershire pp.33 - 44. Click here to read it.

St. Mary's Church, Kempsey Worcestershire 1984 Kempsey Collection ISBN 0-9509914-0-6

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Last updated 14^th August 2005.

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