Magnis (Kenchester)

Magnae, sometimes Magnae Dobunnorum^{[citation needed]} (Latin for "The Greats of the Dobunni") to distinguish it from the Magnae of the Carvetii on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain,^[1] was a Romano-British town and an important market centre for the British Dobunni tribe, located near modern-day Kenchester in Herefordshire, England. The town was shaped as an irregular hexagon, with a single main street along the line of the main Roman Road running east–west through the area, and an irregular pattern of side streets with tightly packed buildings leading off it.^[2]

Name

The Roman town is securely identified with the "Magnis" which appears both in the Antonine Itinerary and Ravenna Cosmography.^[3] The town is today sometimes referred to under the name "Magna".^[4] However, the town was not a colonia, nor a tribal capital,^[5] and Rivet and Smith derive the name from the Celtic word maen meaning 'stone' or 'rock'.^[6] The name may apply to the hills visible to the north of Kenchester.^[7]

History

The ruins of a Roman temple possibly associated with a high-status Roman villa, which may have connections to Magnae, lie inside the Weir Garden by the River Wye. There is an octagonal cistern filled by a spring, and a ruined buttress by the river. These are the highest standing Roman ruins in Herefordshire.^[8]^[9]

Earthen defences have been found dating from the 2nd century, with later stone defences being built by the 4th century and occupation likely to have continued into the 5th century.^[10]

In the Sub-Roman Period, the fort formed a citadel of the British kingdom of Pengwern.

After Pengwern was overrun, the town was the base of the Mercian subkingdom of Magonsaete.^[11]

References

^ Both names are sometimes also given as Magnis, the form under which it appears in the Antonine Itinerary owing to Latin's declensions. It is also sometimes misspelled as singular Magna.
^ "MAGNIS Romano-British Town".
^ Burnham; Wacher, J. S. (1990). The Small Towns of Roman Britain. University of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-07303-6.
^ Darvill, Timothy; Stamper, Paul; Timby, Jane (2002). England: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600. Oxford University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-19-284101-8.
^ Durant, Gladys May (1957). Journey into Roman Britain. W. W. Norton. p. 183.
^ Rivet, A.L.F; Smith, Colin (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. Batsford. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-7134-2077-7.
^ Hines, John (2003). The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-84383-034-4.
^ "Suspected Romano-British Temple, The Weir Gardens". Roman-Britain.org. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ "Roman Riverside Building Complex, The Weir Garden". Herefordshire Monuments Search. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ "MAGNIS". Pastscape – National Monuments Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ Kirby, D. P. (2000). The earliest English kings. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-415-24210-3. Retrieved 7 June 2009.

52°04′52″N 2°49′05″W / 52.081°N 2.818°W / 52.081; -2.818

[1] Both names are sometimes also given as Magnis, the form under which it appears in the Antonine Itinerary owing to Latin's declensions. It is also sometimes misspelled as singular Magna.

[RBO-2] "MAGNIS Romano-British Town".

[3] Burnham; Wacher, J. S. (1990). The Small Towns of Roman Britain. University of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-07303-6.

[4] Darvill, Timothy; Stamper, Paul; Timby, Jane (2002). England: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600. Oxford University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-19-284101-8.

[5] Durant, Gladys May (1957). Journey into Roman Britain. W. W. Norton. p. 183.

[6] Rivet, A.L.F; Smith, Colin (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. Batsford. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-7134-2077-7.

[7] Hines, John (2003). The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-84383-034-4.

[8] "Suspected Romano-British Temple, The Weir Gardens". Roman-Britain.org. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2013.

[9] "Roman Riverside Building Complex, The Weir Garden". Herefordshire Monuments Search. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.

[NMR-10] "MAGNIS". Pastscape – National Monuments Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

[11] Kirby, D. P. (2000). The earliest English kings. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-415-24210-3. Retrieved 7 June 2009.

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