Roman Southampton

Roman Clausentum was situated in what is now the Bitterne Manor area of Southampton. Its northern boundary is the River Itchen with Rampart Road the eastern, Quayside the southern and Hawkeswood Road being the western boundary.

The largest Roman settlement in Southampton, Clausentum, was founded soon after the invasion of AD 43 on a promontory on the east side of the River Itchen, an area now known as Bitterne Manor.

Clausentum became an important port, and excavations have revealed traces of a bath-house, warehouses, roadways and tracks, and defences in the form of banks and walls.

Evidence of trade links with the rest of the Roman Empire includes pottery, glass and metal objects. Similar finds have been made elsewhere in Southampton, including St Denys Church and Priory Road, and Lower High Street and York Buildings.

Clausentum seems to have been abandoned after the Romans withdrew from Britain in AD 410, although there is evidence that the defences were utilised by the Saxons in the 9th and 10th centuries.