Thursday 13 November 2025 at 12.02pm

The Roman Small Towns of Leicestershire and Rutland

Pete Liddle, former county archaeologist

13 November 2025 7.30pm

The lecture will examine the evidence for Roman small towns in the modern counties of Leicestershire and Rutland – or, in Roman terms, in the area around the Roman city of Ratae Corieltauvorum. There are no useful Roman documentary sources and relatively little systematic modern work at many of the potential sites, but there are other forms of archaeological evidence such as fieldwalking finds. These sites are very different from the Roman cities (civitas capitals), such as Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum). This had the characteristic rectilinear street grid, public buildings and large number of elaborate townhouses that would be expected, as well as the defences enclosing a large area (some 42 hectares). None of these are found at the small towns. We will look at where the small towns are located, and what they were like inside, in this talk.

No booking necessary. Entry to the talk is free of charge.

Location: Clephan 0.01, De Montfort University, Leicester. (Click here for venue location, paid parking outside the building is £2-3)