Were the Romans ever in Eastertown?

It is highly probable that Romans visited many parts of Sedgemoor. Roman settlements are known to have existed in the Somerset Levels from the first century AD and some continued in use until the fourth century AD. The recorded settlements are mainly confined to the valleys of the Rivers Brue and Axe although some are sited along the coastline.



In the upper Axe valley, many of the Romano-British settlements appear to be associated with flood defences. These settlements are also linked by an irrigation system suggesting that the sites formed part of a wider network, possibly planned as such to reduce the risk of flooding over a wide area.






In some cases, the presence of large-scale drainage works together with finds of quern-stones (small, hand-operated grain grinders) suggest that the land may have been drained to allow agricultural activity.

A Romano-British settlement on Stoke Moor, near Wedmore, is known to have existed since it was partially excavated in 1925. It is situated on lowlying ground in the Axe Valley in the area of the Somerset Levels.

The Wedmore site consists of a series of low earthworks as well as features visible only on aerial photographs. They represent the known extent of the settlement which covers an area of 18.5 hectares. The settlement was unenclosed and developed alongside a former channel of the River Axe; this old river channel remains visible as an earthwork to the west of the settlement.

Environmental evidence from the area suggests that salt-marsh conditions prevailed in this area during the Roman period contradicting earlier theories that the area would have been submerged. One reason for the site’s existence was in order to exploit the natural resources of the area.

The River Axe enters the Bristol Channel at Uphill where it is sheltered by Brean Down and it is possible that there was a port at Uphill in Roman times, but no archaeological evidence has been found for this to date. Given its proximity to the nearby lead mining settlements around Charterhouse on the Mendip hills, it has been speculated that Lead ingots might have been taken to Rome using the navigable River Axe.

Small shards of Roman pottery have been found close to a small branch of the Axe that passes close to the Riverside property at the end of North Road in Eastertown. A survey was conducted in 2011 by the Lympsham Archaeological Group with the kind permission of Mr Geoff Janes and the assistance of Mr Robert Smission from the University of Bristol.

A Copy of that survey can be viewed (here).