CELTIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH HERTFORDSHIRE 



at the west end of the church/' They varied in diameter from 2 ft. i in. to 

 2 ft. 2 in. and in height from i ft. 8 in, to 2 ft. 2 in. These drums were 

 reddened on one side by the action of fire and charcoal was found under 

 them. They lay with their lewis holes to the north. It seems probable 

 from what can be recovered of the plan of the building, which had apparently 

 a nave and one or two aisles and from its position, that it may have been the 

 basilica. It does not seem, however, to have been attached to the forum as 

 in the cases of Silchester and Caerwent, but the width of a road or rather 

 more seems to have existed between them. Unfortunately the excavations 

 had necessarily to be very fragmentary as, except for the small piece of the 

 wall lately excavated in the vicarage garden, the whole of the building is in 

 the churchyard so that the site cannot be further explored. 



The site of the Roman theatre is to the north-west of the forum, about 

 327 ft. up the Gorhambury Drive from Blue House Hill on the south side 

 of the road. It was discovered in 1847 ^^^ excavated in the autumn of 

 that year by the late Mr. R. Grove Lowe, who gave a good report of his 

 work to the St. Albans Architectural Society ''* in the following year, from 

 which the following details are mostly taken. The theatre consisted of a 

 rectangular stage and adjuncts called the scena and an orchestra and seats, 

 comprising 240 degrees of a circle, 190 ft. 3 in. in diameter, called the 

 cavea (PL vi). It was composed of a stage 46 ft. by 8 ft. 9 in. deep at one side of 

 which was a block of masonry, possibly for an altar. Behind the stage was 

 the postscenium or place into which the actors made their exits. On the east 

 side of the stage was a chamber paved with coarse red tesserae about i in. 

 square, probably for the use of the performers. There was possibly a 

 corresponding room on the west side, but it was not found. In front of the 

 stage was a space 16 ft. 6 in. wide and about 5 ft. below the level of the 

 stage, the purpose of which is uncertain.'^ It may have been devoted to the 

 chorus so as to give the whole of the limited area of the stage to the actors 

 or, as Mr. Lowe suggests, it may have formed a lower stage for mimes, 

 musicians and dancers or the seats of persons of the highest rank. The plan 

 of the inner wall of the orchestra was uncertain as it was found only at the 

 ends of two of the entrances and about midway between them, and was 

 6 ft. 6 in., 6 ft. and i ft. 10 in. respectively from the third inner wall (see 

 plan). The orchestra, which was on the same level as the space just referred 

 to, usually contained in the Roman theatre the seats of the most distinguished 

 spectators. Behind it were the rows of seats, probably of wood, raised one 

 above another and behind them an arched corridor containing the stairs to 

 the upper part of the theatre, which stood probably where the foundations 

 are shown on the south-east side. Over the corridor were more seats. 

 There were probably three entrances or staircases {scalae) leading to the 

 seats, one opposite the stage 7 ft. wide and one on each side i o ft. wide ; 

 only that on the eastern side was, however, excavated. Mr. Lowe estimated 



'' On account of adjoining burials only one complete drum could be brought to the surface, and this is 

 now in St. Michael's Church. 



'* A Description of the Roman Theatre of Verulam, by R. Grove Lowe, printed by the St. Albans 

 Arch. Soc. as a separate pamphlet 1848. The theatre was re-opened in 1869 when the British Archaeo- 

 logical Association visited St. Albans, but no fresh discoveries were then reported nor any further account 

 printed. 



'° The walls shown on the north-west side of the space form only a covered sewer. 



