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Silchester

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place

Silchester is a village and civil parish about Template:Convert north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about Template:Convert 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. The site includes what is considered the best-preserved Roman town wall in Great Britain and the remains of what may be one of the earliest Christian churches found in the British Isles.

Today, the modern village lies just outside the ancient Roman walls and maintains a rural character, with a small population and local amenities including a village hall, a pub, and access to walking trails on its extensive commons.

HistoryEdit

ArchaeologyEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A number of reports on the archaeological investigations have been published by Historic England.<ref>* {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}

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Iron Age and Roman townEdit

File:Calleva Atrebatum plan.png
Site plan

Calleva Atrebatum was an Iron Age oppidum 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 Template:Convert to the east of the modern village.

The site covers an area of over Template:Convert within a polygonal earthwork. The earthworks and extensive ruined walls are still visible. The remains of the amphitheatre,<ref>Silchester amphitheatre</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn The precise identity of Tebicatos remains a mystery, but it is possible that he was a pilgrim or a mercenary.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn

Calleva was finally abandoned in the 7th century, which is unusually late compared to other deserted Roman settlements.<ref>Roman colonies in Subroman Britain</ref>

ManorEdit

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.<ref name=Page>Page, 1911, pages 51–56</ref> The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that the Normans William De Ow and Ralph de Mortimer possessed Alestan's and Cheping's manors respectively.<ref name=Page/> The book assessed Alestan's manor at five hides and Mortimer's at three hides.<ref name=Page/> De Mortimer's tenant was another Norman, Ralph Bluet.<ref name=Page/> 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.<ref name=Page/> Today parts of the earthwork park pale survive and parts of the former park remain wooded.<ref name=Page/>

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.<ref name=Page/>

The Irish peer Murrough Boyle, 1st Viscount Blesington (1685–1718) bought the manor in 1704 and it remained with his hereditary heirs until the death of William Stewart, 1st Earl of Blessington in 1769.<ref name=Page/> In 1778 it was inherited jointly by Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci and Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford.<ref name=Page/> In 1806 Baron Longford's daughter The Hon. Catherine Pakenham married Arthur Wellesley, who in 1814 was created Duke of Wellington. In 1821 Catherine's brother Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford was created Baron Silchester, but in 1828 he and John, 2nd Viscount de Vesci sold the manor of Silchester to the Duke.<ref name=Page/> In the first decade of the 20th century Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington still owned the manor of Silchester.<ref name=Page/>

Church and chapelEdit

File:Church of St. Mary Cavella 0414.JPG
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The building may contain some re-used Roman materials.<ref>Aston & Bond, 1976, page 53</ref> The building dates from the late 12th<ref name=Page/> or early 13th century.<ref name=Pevsner505>Pevsner & Lloyd, 1967, page 505</ref> It has a north and south aisle, each of two bays.<ref name=Page/> There is no chancel arch, and the chancel is longer than the nave.<ref name=Page/> 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.<ref name=Pevsner505/> Two new windows were added to the church in the 14th century, and two more including the Perpendicular Gothic<ref name=Pevsner505/> east window of the chancel in the 15th century.<ref name=Page/>

The church has a Perpendicular Gothic<ref name=Pevsner505/> rood screen.<ref name=Page/> The pulpit was made early in the 18th century but its tester is dated 1639.<ref name=Pevsner505/> There is also a carved memorial cartouche to the Irish peer Viscount Ikerrin (died 1712).<ref name=Pevsner505/> The bell-turret has a ring of five bells. Four were cast by John Stares of Aldbourne,<ref name=DoveFounders>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wiltshire in 1744.<ref name=DoveDetails>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The other was cast by William Taylor of Oxford<ref name=DoveFounders/> in 1848.<ref name=DoveDetails/>

There is a Primitive Methodist chapel on Silchester Common.<ref name=Page/>

GeographyEdit

The present village is centred on Silchester Common. It is about Template:Convert 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 governmentEdit

Silchester is a civil parish with an elected parish council. Silchester parish is in the ward of Pamber and Silchester,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 921.<ref name=ONS/>

TransportEdit

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.

AmenitiesEdit

Silchester's sole public house is the Calleva Arms,<ref>Calleva Arms</ref> named after the former Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum that lies within the village boundary. It was previously known as "The Crown".

The parish has events and village activities through the year including a beer festival, fun run, church fete, and music festival.<ref>Pete's Silchester Pages</ref> The village has an amateur dramatic society<ref>Silchester Players Template:Webarchive</ref> and a village association.<ref>Silchester Association</ref>

Silchester Cricket Club<ref>Silchester Cricket Club</ref> compete in Regional Division Three North East in the Hampshire Cricket League.<ref>Hampshire Cricket League</ref>

SchoolEdit

Silchester has a Church of England aided primary school.<ref>Silchester Church of England Primary School</ref> Most Silchester children of secondary school age attend The Hurst School in Baughurst.

AwardsEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>

Notable personsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Sources and further readingEdit

External linksEdit

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