Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 1-26 



Sorviodunum - A Review of the Archaeological 

 Evidence 



by David J. James 1 



with a contribution by David J. Algar 



Evidence is presented of the archaeological finds made since the 18th century through excavation, field 

 walking, chance, and aerial photography. Previously unpublished information from excavations in the 1 960s 

 and 1970s is also included. Analysis of the data provides a new insight into the location and possible nature 

 of Sorviodunum. A number of conclusions are drawn, the principal one being that there was a substantial 

 urban settlement in existence from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. The paper recommends geophysical 

 investigations be carried out to define more precisely the boundaries of this important site. 



INTRODUCTION 



Considerable uncertainty has always been, and still 

 is, expressed in academic literature as to the 

 location, size and precise function of Roman 

 Sorviodunum. Until the beginning of the 20th 

 century antiquaries firmly believed that the Iron 

 Age hill-fort of Old Sarum (SU 13753268) with its 

 later Norman Castle and Cathedral could also be 

 identified with Sorbiodunum or Sorviodunum of 

 the Antonine Itinerary. This was based upon the 

 belief that Sarum is a corruption of the Roman 

 name and the fact that the site stands beside a 

 strategic nodal junction of Roman roads, where four 

 or more routes converge (Haverfield 1915). Until 

 1 900 less than a dozen small artifacts of Romano- 

 British date had been found at Old Sarum. 

 Extensive excavations in the period 1909 to 1915 

 by W.H. St John Hope and Lt. Col. W. Hawley 

 revealed only a handful of artifacts and the 

 foundations of a building which might, or might 

 not, have been Roman (St John Hope 1910, 191; 

 St John Hope and Hawley 1911,517; Hawley 1912 

 57-9; 1913 101). This led Professor Haverfield to 

 doubt it was the site of Sorviodunum and to suggest 

 it might be located in the valley below Old Sarum at 



the village of Stratford-sub-Castle. However he 

 admitted that, up to that time, no trace of Roman 

 activity had been found there (Haverfield 1915, 26). 

 In a review of Romano-British Wiltshire carried 

 out between the First and Second World Wars Mrs 

 Cunnington cited the small number of finds from 

 Old Sarum plus two amphorae supposedly from 

 Stratford-sub-Castle (Cunnington 1930, 203-4). 

 However, writing just after the Second World War 

 the views of Professor Hawkes (Hawkes 1947, 32) 

 and D.H. Montgomerie, a member of Col Hawley's 

 excavation team, were summarized by the latter who 

 thought that: 



'it would be most unusual to find a hill-fort succeeded, 



on the spot, by a regular Roman town the 



remains... seem too scanty to suggest a settlement of 

 any great size. There has been a suggestion that the 

 Roman Sorbiodunum may have been on the west 

 below the hill, towards the river Avon near the village 

 of Stratford, but the evidence of finds does not support 

 this strongly either.' (Montgomerie 1947, 134) 



Less than a decade later the situation was 

 reviewed again following the unexpected discovery 

 in 1953 of a fairly substantial quantity of Romano- 

 British refuse material as a result of housing 



1 Watermead, Mill Lane, Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury, SP1 3LJ " 26 Hulse Road, Salisbury, SP1 3LY 



