The visible remnants of Metchley Fort's perimeter ditch
After managing to invade Britain after only their second attempt, the Romans set about integrating their new territory into the empire.
In order to achieve this they set about the construction of a vast military of forts linked by roads. For a legionary marching along a road in the northernmost region of the empire, the indigenous tribes and infamous weather of the British Isles must have seemed somewhat brutal, and a fort would be a welcome sight, offering a haven and relative comfort behind its walls.
In its initial phase, Metchley fort comprised of shallow ditches surrounding military buildings, with the site itself positioned along Rykneild Street as a counterpart to another fort near Letocetum, modern day Wall in Staffordshire.
Eventually the fort began to attract civilians who constructed a series of open fronted buildings which were found during a 2003 excavation of the site along with Roman ovens and Hearths, the Via Praetoria (the main road through the fort) and a granary complete with loading platforms.
There is also evidence of further civilian settlement around King’s Norton Green. During a small scale excavation, a number of Roman finds such as pottery shards were uncovered suggesting the site may have been home to a group of Romano-British people.
Sadly, there are no large visible Roman remains in Birmingham. Metchley Fort was obliterated by construction of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal and later, the railway, but some elements still remain next to University Station in the form of a shallow ditch marking part of the perimeter, offering us a tantalising glimpse of the scale of Roman activity on the Birmingham Plateau.
Edward Tesla is a local freelance writer.
Please email eddietesla@hotmail.co.uk if you would like to hear more from him.
