Roman towns in Britain: streets, buildings and communities

More than a grid of streets

Roman towns supported administration, trade, crafts, worship and everyday domestic life. Their origins differed: some developed from military settlements or earlier centres, while others were established with a particular legal status. A street grid helps organise a plan, but towns changed over time and did not share one identical layout.

Wroxeter as a case study

Wroxeter developed from a legionary fortress into a major civilian town. Its bath and public-building remains help explain the scale of urban investment. Study the whole plan alongside the impressive surviving walls: open spaces, streets and buildings no longer standing were also part of the town.

Look for different experiences

A forum, bath complex or rich house does not represent every resident. Workshops, smaller properties, drains, refuse deposits and surrounding cemeteries can widen the account. A plan should distinguish excavated remains from proposed reconstructions and show which phase it represents.

Compare two places

Put Canterbury’s town-house remains beside Wroxeter’s public buildings. Ask what each preserves, what it leaves invisible and how a modern visitor encounters it. Use the town-planning activity to design connections between water, roads, buildings and the people using them.