High Cross, Leicestershire: Difference between revisions
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==Roman Era== |
==Roman Era== |
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The name of the Roman settlement ''Venonae'' (also sometimes ''Venonis'' or ''Venoni''){{refn|group=nb|The different forms of the name reflect different analyses of the grammar in the original Latin text of the Itinerary: the original text uses "Venonis" but ''-is'' is a dative case ending, meaning the name of the settlement was Venonae, Venoni or Venona.<ref name=VCHWarks |
The name of the Roman settlement ''Venonae'' (also sometimes ''Venonis'' or ''Venoni''){{refn|group=nb|The different forms of the name reflect different analyses of the grammar in the original Latin text of the Itinerary: the original text uses "Venonis" but ''-is'' is a dative case ending, meaning the name of the settlement was Venonae, Venoni or Venona.<ref name=VCHWarks /> is known from the [[Antonine Itinerary]], a contemporary register of the stations and distances along various Roman roads likely produced at the end of the third century.<ref name=EB1911 /> The first historian to identify High Cross with Venonae was [[William Camden]] (1551-1623)<ref name=Ocular />. The Victoria County History for Leicestershire observes that "The Antonine Itinerary places Venonae at the spot where these roads [Watling Street and Fosse Way] cross, and also assigns to Venonae distances from other places known to us — [[Manduessedum]] [today [[Mancetter]]] and [[Bannaventa]] [in Northamptonshire] — which agree satisfactorily with the actual mileage, it is natural that there should have been general agreement among archaeologists, since Camden, to identify Venonae and High Cross."<ref name=VCHLeics /> |
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A 2004 map of the Roman settlement based on archaeological fieldwork shows two enclosures and fortifications in the immediate area around the crossroads, remains of a villa 450 metres due east of the cross road, and a small fort about 1km further to the North West, just on the north side of Watling Steet.<ref name=Liddle /> The remains of the fort were identified from the air in 1968. The location of the fort was also shown on a map drawn by William Stukely in the eighteenth century when structures were more clearly visible .<ref name=Nichols /> Excavations were carried out by Arthur Pickering in the 1930s in the region of the crossroads but not the area of the fort itself.<ref name=Pickering /> |
A 2004 map of the Roman settlement based on archaeological fieldwork shows two enclosures and fortifications in the immediate area around the crossroads, remains of a villa 450 metres due east of the cross road, and a small fort about 1km further to the North West, just on the north side of Watling Steet.<ref name=Liddle /> The remains of the fort were identified from the air in 1968. The location of the fort was also shown on a map drawn by William Stukely in the eighteenth century when structures were more clearly visible .<ref name=Nichols /> Excavations were carried out by Arthur Pickering in the 1930s in the region of the crossroads but not the area of the fort itself.<ref name=Pickering /> |
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<ref name=Tompkins>{{cite thesis |last=Tompkins |first=Abigail E.I. |date=2017 |degree=PhD |page=14 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:920eaba8-94da-4813-9547-f04268691648/files/m1989c90429ab20bf7f048fa664582660 |publisher=Oxford University |access-date=10 February 2024 |title=The Avon Valley in the fifth to mid-seventh centuries: contacts and coalescence in a frontier polity?}}Tomkins lists several academic publications dating from 1973 to 2007 which "whilst not in total agreement regarding the exact location, have all argued that the frontier between the Corieltauvi and the Dobunni lay in the northeastern part of the Avon Valley, broadly in the region of Watling Street."</ref> |
<ref name=Tompkins>{{cite thesis |last=Tompkins |first=Abigail E.I. |date=2017 |degree=PhD |page=14 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:920eaba8-94da-4813-9547-f04268691648/files/m1989c90429ab20bf7f048fa664582660 |publisher=Oxford University |access-date=10 February 2024 |title=The Avon Valley in the fifth to mid-seventh centuries: contacts and coalescence in a frontier polity?}}Tomkins lists several academic publications dating from 1973 to 2007 which "whilst not in total agreement regarding the exact location, have all argued that the frontier between the Corieltauvi and the Dobunni lay in the northeastern part of the Avon Valley, broadly in the region of Watling Street."</ref> |
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<ref name=VCHWarks>{{cite book |title=Victoria County History Warwickshire |page=232 |date=1904 |volume=1|url=https://archive.org/details/victoriahistoryo00doubuoft/page/232/mode/2up?q=Venonae}}</ref>}} |
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<ref name=Warks>{{cite web |title=SITE OF VENONAE ROMAN SETTLEMENT AT HIGH CROSS |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/site-of-venonae-roman-settlement-at-high-cross |website=Our Warwickshire }}</ref> |
<ref name=Warks>{{cite web |title=SITE OF VENONAE ROMAN SETTLEMENT AT HIGH CROSS |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/site-of-venonae-roman-settlement-at-high-cross |website=Our Warwickshire }}</ref> |
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Revision as of 18:16, 17 February 2024
| High Cross | |
|---|---|
 High Cross today | |
 Location of High Cross, on the Warwickshire and Leicestershire border | |
| Town/City | Border of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, England |
| Coordinates | 52°29′37″N 1°18′19″W / 52.4935°N 1.3053°W |
High Cross is the name given to the crossroads of the Roman roads of Watling Street (now the A5) and Fosse Way on the border between Leicestershire and Warwickshire, England. A naturally strategic high point, High Cross was "the central cross roads" of Anglo-Saxon and Roman Britain.[1] It was the site of a Romano-British settlement known as Venonae or Venonis, with an accompanying fort.[2]
High Cross has marked several frontiers through history. In the Iron Age the area is believed to have been the frontier between the Corieltauvi and Dobunni tribes.[3] In the Roman era, the Fosse Way delimited Roman settlement in the early period of occupation.[3] In the later Anglo-Saxon period, Watling Street was the border between the Viking controlled Danelaw and Saxon territory. Reflecting this, the boundaries of four parishes (boundaries which began to be established from the Anglo-Saxon period or even earlier)[1] still meet today at High Cross, while the border between Leicester and Warwickshire, established in the early 11th century, reflects the Danelaw boundary.
Location
High Cross is located eight miles from the point (at Lindley Hall Farm in Fenny Drayton) today identified by the Ordnance Survey as the geographical centre of England.[4] High Cross is the midpoint on the main watershed of England: it is situated above three river valleys. The Avon flows southwest to the Severn Estuary and the Irish sea at Bristol; the Anker flows West; and the Soar flows North. Both the Soar and the Anker, via the Trent and then the Humber, flow ultimately to the North Sea at Kingston on Hull.[5]
As denoted by its name, High Cross is at the top of a hill. An account of the site in a popular magazine of 1827 claimed that, "The ground here is so high, and the surrounding country so low and flat, that it is said, fifty-seven churches may be seen from this spot by the help of a glass [telescope]."[6] This extensive area of relatively flat land is, on the Warwickshire side, between Rugby and Bedworth/ Nuneaton, referred to by geographers as the High Cross Plateau.[7]
Roman Era
The name of the Roman settlement Venonae (also sometimes Venonis or Venoni)[nb 1]
External links
- "Venonis". Roman Britain. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. X, No. 272, published 8 September 1827
- Burbage the Centre of England, Sylvia Whitworth, Burbage Heritage group.
- ^ "SITE OF VENONAE ROMAN SETTLEMENT AT HIGH CROSS". Our Warwickshire.
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).