On Wednesday 9th August we will begin our summer season of excavations at Silchester Roman Town. This year we will be looking to find a previously-undiscovered temple situated within the east of the town. The Victorian excavations of the late 19th Century revealed two temples sat within a walled temenos – an area of land or sanctuary separated from the rest of the town – but only partially identified a third building slightly to the north. However, our geophysics work has shown the third building to be formed of two concentric squares, the classic layout of a Roman temple. Because of the lack of Victorian intrusion we’ll be hoping to find some undisturbed archaeology within and perhaps discover more about the religious practices of the inhabitants of Calleva. We’ll be holding an open day on Saturday 26th of August for visitors to come and see the progress we’ve made at Silchester as well as our second site which we will be revealing later this week.

The Victorian antiquarian’s plan of the east of the town shows the temenos wall partially enclosing two obvious Roman temples. Three sides of our targetted building are shown slightly to the north.

Geoophysical analysis clearly shows a building formed of concentric squares.

Our interpretation of the geophysics including the curve of the temenos wall and our proposed trench.

Potential reconstruction of all three temples.