Silchester is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Reading.
Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, an Iron Age and later Atrebates Celtic settlement first occupied by the Romans in about AD 45, and which includes what is considered the best-preserved Roman wall in Great Britain and the remains of what may be one of the oldest Christian churches.
Location
The present village is centred on Silchester Common. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Church of England parish church and former manor house (now Manor Farm), which are in the eastern part of the former Roman town.
Local government
Silchester is a civil parish with an elected parish council. Silchester parish is in the ward of Pamber and Silchester,[3] part of Basingstoke and Deane District Council and of Hampshire County Council and all three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. The ward returns two councillors to the borough council.[4] The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 921.[1]
Transport
Silchester Common is served (as of October 2017) by bus route 14 between Basingstoke, Chineham Shopping Centre, Bramley, Little London, Silchester Common and Tadley, operated by Stagecoach on Monday to Saturday.
Manor
Silcester was recorded in the 11th century, when one Alestan held a manor here with King Edward the Confessor as his overlord and one Cheping held another manor with Earl Harold Godwinson as his overlord.[5] The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that the Normans William De Ow and Ralph de Mortimer possessed Alestan's and Cheping's manors respectively.[5] The book assessed Alestan's manor at five hides and Mortimer's at three hides.[5] De Mortimer's tenant was another Norman, Ralph Bluet.[5] In 1204 he or a later Ralph Bluet gave a palfrey horse in exchange for a licence to enclose an area of land south-east of the former Roman town as a deer park.[5] Today parts of the earthwork park pale survive and parts of the former park remain wooded.[5]
Forms of the toponym included Ciltestere and Cilcestre in the 13th century, Scilchestre in the 14th century and Sylkchester in the 18th century before it reached its current spelling.[5]
Parish church of St Mary the Virgin behind the Roman town wall
The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is just within the walls of the former Roman town, possibly on the site of a Roman temple.[6][7] The building may contain some re-used Roman materials.[8] The building dates from the late 12th[5] or early 13th century.[9] It has a north and south aisle, each of two bays.[5] There is no chancel arch, and the chancel is longer than the nave.[5] The wall of the south aisle was rebuilt in about 1325–50, incorporating an ogee-arched tomb recess containing the effigy of a lady wearing a wimple.[9] Two new windows were added to the church in the 14th century, and two more including the Perpendicular Gothic[9] east window of the chancel in the 15th century.[5]
Calleva Atrebatum was an Iron Ageoppidum and subsequently a town in the Roman province of Britannia and the civitas capital of the Atrebates tribe. Its ruins are beneath and to the west of the parish church, which is itself just within the town wall and about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of the modern village.
The site covers an area of over 107 acres (43 ha) within a polygonal earthwork. The earthworks and extensive ruined walls are still visible. The remains of the amphitheatre,[12] added about AD 70–80 and situated outside the city walls, can also be clearly seen. The area inside the walls is now largely farmland with no visible distinguishing features, other than the enclosing earthworks and walls, with the church and old manor house in one corner.
Silchester was the subject of antiquarian interest from the 16th century onwards. The bronze Silchester eagle was discovered in the Basilica at Calleva in 1866 and can now be seen in Reading Museum. The most extensive excavations were carried out by the Society of Antiquaries from 1890 until 1909 under George E. Fox and W. H. St. J. Hope.[13] During excavations carried out in 1893, the Silchester Ogham stone was located. Dated c. 500 AD, it is one of very few found in England. It is now held in storage at Reading Museum. The inscription on the ogham stone was in the Latin alphabet, but in Irish and appears to be indicating that the property belonged to someone named Tebicatos.[14] The precise identity of Tebicatos remains a mystery, but it is possible that he was a pilgrim or a mercenary.[15]
Analysis of plant remains shows that Calleva residents had access to typical foods eaten in Roman Britain, such as cereals, coriander, and cultivated fruits. They also received imports of exotic medlar and mulberry fruits.[16]
Calleva was finally abandoned in the 7th century, which is unusually late compared to other deserted Roman settlements.[17]
Amenities
Silchester's sole public house is the Calleva Arms,[18] named after the former Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum that lies within the village boundary. It was known as The Crown prior to being renamed.
The parish has regular events and village activities through the year including a beer festival, fun run, church fete, and music festival.[19] The village has an amateur dramatic society[20] and a village association.[21]
Silchester Cricket Club[22] compete in Regional Division Three North East in the Hampshire Cricket League.[23]
Silchester was voted "Hampshire Village of the Year" (2008) and "South England Village of the Year" (2009) in the Calor Village of the Year competition.[25]
Silchester Environs Project
The University of Reading is leading a five-year archaeological research project to explore the later prehistoric use of the landscape around Silchester Roman Town and its underlying Late Iron Age oppidum (ancient Celtic fortified town). To date (2020) the project has identified 671 new archaeological sites, from the Neolithic through to WWII, in addition to the 267 already known.[26] A number of reports on the archaeological investigations have been published by Historic England.[27]
