06-12-2010, 09:18 PM
Oh well, since you ask .... Caerleon (Isca).
Why? Because it's all there - barrack blocks (only legionary ones exposed in Europe), amphitheatre (biggest completely excavated one in Britain), baths and a cracking museum with half a million bits to keep people like me occupied for many years to come. It's the only legionary base that you can still see in Britain. All the others are under modern towns, Lincoln, Chester, York, Colchester, Gloucester, Exeter, etc. Sometimes their street plans follow the outline of the fortress (as in Gloucester) - but there's nothing to actually see in these places. At Caerleon you can see where the soldiers lived, where they socilaised and where they amused themselves.
Another 'plus' is that it isn't very far from Caerwent (Venta Silurum) - a more or less complete 'civitas' capital, with walls up to 17 feet high in places. There is a basilica, Romano-British temple, rows of shops, a courtyard house and a very useful little visitor's centre.
Caratacus
(Mike Thomas)
Why? Because it's all there - barrack blocks (only legionary ones exposed in Europe), amphitheatre (biggest completely excavated one in Britain), baths and a cracking museum with half a million bits to keep people like me occupied for many years to come. It's the only legionary base that you can still see in Britain. All the others are under modern towns, Lincoln, Chester, York, Colchester, Gloucester, Exeter, etc. Sometimes their street plans follow the outline of the fortress (as in Gloucester) - but there's nothing to actually see in these places. At Caerleon you can see where the soldiers lived, where they socilaised and where they amused themselves.
Another 'plus' is that it isn't very far from Caerwent (Venta Silurum) - a more or less complete 'civitas' capital, with walls up to 17 feet high in places. There is a basilica, Romano-British temple, rows of shops, a courtyard house and a very useful little visitor's centre.
Caratacus
(Mike Thomas)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
