Silchester
Near Basingstoke, Hampshire
Silchester, or Calleva Atrebatum, was a busy Roman town with a forum, baths and an amphitheatre. After the Romans left, it was slowly abandoned and never built over.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- Abandoned c.AD 500
- Where
- 51.3550, -1.0830
- Group
- Roman Britain
Visiting
English Heritage, free. Walk the circuit of the walls.

The Ledger of Lost Britain
The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.
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