ROMANO-BRITISH 

 BERKSHIRE 



IT must be stated at the outset of this article that the district now 

 known as Berkshire had no separate existence at the time of the 

 Roman occupation of Britain. It can only be stated with safety 

 that the Atrebates, a Belgic tribe, occupied a greater part, 

 possibly even the whole, of this district at the time of Caesar's invasion 

 of Britain, and the subjugation of the country by Claudius commenced 

 in A.D. 43. The chief town of the Atrebates, called Calleva, was 

 situated in the parish of Silchester just over the county boundary in 

 Hampshire and, while it flourished, strongly influenced much of the 

 country around. So far as the archaeological evidence is concerned the 

 Roman occupation of this district was, it would seem, quite peaceful, as 

 it was throughout all the Midlands. There is much which points to a 

 continuity of village life by the native British, who gradually became 

 Romanized. This is shown by the evidence of pottery and other objects 

 of the Celtic period found associated with those of the Romano-British, 

 indicating the adoption by the natives of Roman civilization. Such 

 evidence has been found at Theale where, as may be seen from the 

 exhibits at the Reading Museum, the ruder pottery of the British 

 period was associated with articles of the finer Roman ware. More 

 important discoveries in this respect were made at Long Wittenham 

 where a native British village composed of enclosures of mud or wattle 

 and daub walls, circular, rectangular or rhomboidal in shape, was 

 excavated. 



Mr. Haverfield, who visited and described these excavations, gives 

 a list of other places in the Upper Thames Valley, including Appleford 

 and Radley, where the growth of the crops shows similar lines, 

 rectangles and circles to those explored at Long Wittenham. All these 

 seem to represent small hamlets and homesteads of an early date, the 

 circles being probably British settlements, whilst the rectangular en- 

 closures may belong to the second and third centuries of our era. The 

 inhabitants were probably engaged in pastoral and agricultural pursuits 

 and there are no traces of wealth or advanced civilization. The native 

 village discovered at Wickham Bushes in Easthampstead was of a like 

 type, but shows slightly greater prosperity and more Roman influence. 

 Probably similar settlements existed also at Compton, East Ilsley and 

 Maidenhead. 



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