The Romano-British small town and temple complex at Harlow, Essex: a liminal community on the Catuvellaunian-Trinovantian border

Abstract

The large number of Iron Age coins from Harlow suggests that it was a site of great significance in the pre-Roman period. A Romano-Celtic temple was constructed on Stanegrove Hill in the late first century AD, just to the south of where the Roman road from Braughing to Chigwell crossed the river Stort. Romano-British material has been found scattered beneath the modern urban areas to the north, east, and south of Stanegrove Hill and although many of the excavations were carried out in hurried conditions and have not been published, the surviving archives suggest that the Roman-period occupation was extensive (covering c.40 ha), dense, and largely non-agricultural in character comprising a range of industrial, commercial, and ritual activities. The material culture at one site – Holbrook’s – included evidence for industrial production and a large number of votive objects, leading to it being variously interpreted as a workshop or a second temple. Excavations at Stafford House also revealed extensive industrial activity. To the east of the Harlowbury valley a discrete area of dense, high status, occupation may be villa or another temple, and building debris found during fieldwalking included a fragment of column made of Portland Stone.