Where are the Roman sites in Lincoln?


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Mint Wall in West Bight
Roman well in St Paul in the Bail
Site of the early church, St Paul in the Bail, Westgate
Bailgate Colonnade, Bailgate
Two column bases at 27/29 Bailgate
Castle Roman Wall part of the Roman Upper City West Gate
Roman Wall in Cecil Street
Newport Arch
The Roman West Tower near Newport Arch
The Roman wall east of Newport Arch, West Bight
The interval tower in the Roman Wall on site of
Water Tower in East Bight
Roman Upper City East Gate in Eastgate
Roman Wall at the Lincoln Hotel in Eastgate
Roman Wall South of Cathedral in Minster Yard
Roman Mosaic Pavement in Cathedral
The Roman hypocaust in Exchequergate
Roman Gate at 44 Steep Hill
Roman Wall south of Police Station West Parade
Roman Gate and wall in Orchard Street
Saltergate Postern Gate beneath Royal Bank of Scotland
in Saltergate
Roman Hypocaust and baths at 281 High Street
Roman Fosse Way in St Mary's Guildhall
Roman Wall in Temple Gardens, Bishops' Palace
Remains of fountain beneath 292-3 High Street
Fragment of cornice in City Hall entrance
The Roman Altar in St Swithin's Church
Fragment of Aqueduct in Waitrose supermarket, Nettleham Road

Newport Arch

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Newport Arch is the remains of a 3rd century Roman gate. The arch was remodelled and enlarged when the city, then Lindum Colonia, became capital of the province Flavia Caesariensis in the 4th century. It is thought to be the only original Roman arch in the world still open to traffic.

As the north gate of the city, it carried the major Roman road Ermine Street northward almost in a straight line to the Humber.

From Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks by John Ward (1911):
“A considerable portion of the north gate of Lincoln — the Newport Arch — is standing, but is buried to the extent of about 8 ft. in the soil and débris accumulated since Roman times. The structure is about 34 ft. deep and has a single passage for the road, 17 1/2 ft. wide. The inner or back portal of this passage is still intact, and is nearly 16 ft. in the clear and rises to a height of about 22 1/2 ft. above the Roman level. Its arch is of a single ring of large limestone voussoirs rising from imposts which appear to have been moulded.

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The outer or front arch has long since disappeared. On the east side is a postern for pedestrians, 7 ft. wide and contracting to about 5 ft. at the north end, and 15 ft. high from the Roman level. On the west side there was a similar postern about a century ago. The whole structure is of good masonry, and it appears to have projected considerably beyond the north face of the town wall.”

In 1964 a lorry almost destroyed the arch whilst attempting to pass under it.

The Fosse Way

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The Fosse Way links Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) in South West England to Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) in the East Midlands, via Ilchester (Lindinis), Bath (Aquae Sulis), Cirencester (Corinium) and Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum).

It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis (High Cross) south of Leicester, and joined Ermine Street at Lincoln.

The word Fosse is derived from the Latin fossa, meaning ditch. For the first few decades after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, the Fosse Way marked the western frontier of Roman rule. It is possible that the road began as a defensive ditch that was later filled in and converted into a road, or possibly a defensive ditch ran alongside the road for at least some of its length.

The Fosse Way is the only Roman road in Britain to retain its original Latin name. Most others were named by the Saxons, centuries after the Romans left Britain.

It is remarkable for its extremely direct route: from Lincoln to Ilchester in Somerset, a distance of 182 miles, it is never more than six miles from a straight line.

Ermine Street

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Ermine Street is the Anglo-Saxon name of the Roman road that ran from London (Londinium) to Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) and York (Eboracum).

It was named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston, Hertfordshire. The Anglo-Saxon name was 'Earninga Straete' (1012). 'Armingford', 'Arrington' and 'Ermine Street' are names that share the same Anglo-Saxon origin.

It is also known as the Old North Road from London to where it joins the A1 Great North Road near Godmanchester.