Derventio (Little Chester)

Derventio

This Roman well dates back to the late 3rd century, Derventio lies behind the houses
Map showing the location of Derventio within Derbyshire.
Location	Derby, Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Coordinates	52°56′01″N 1°28′25″W / 52.933735°N 1.473586°W / 52.933735; -1.473586
Type	Roman fort
Part of	Icknield Street
History
Founded	about AD 80
Abandoned	about AD 120 (but settlement continued)
Site notes
Website	[www.roman-britain.org/places/derventio_coritanorum.htm Derventio (Coritanorum)] at Roman Britain
PastScape

Derventio or Derventio Coritanorum was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Little Chester, on the outskirts of Derby, located in the English county of Derbyshire.

The first Roman fort in the area was built on the opposite bank of the River Derwent at Strutts Park. It was replaced about AD 80 by a fort on the present site, but this only lasted about forty years, then was decommissioned. There was extensive Roman activity prompted by the fort, which was connected westward by a road to the Icknield Street, and to the east by a road to Sawley on the River Trent. A fort-vicus which manufactured pottery and did ironworking was founded 600m to the east on the Sawley Road. The fort was later re-occupied and re-used for a further twenty five years. The defensive bank and timber palisade were now remodelled and stone gates built. Then it lay unoccupied until the late 3rd century when a stone wall was built around the town. It did not outlive the end of the 4th century.

The modern Old Chester Road bisects the site of the fort, and in the nineteenth century the south east corner was cut by a line of the Great Northern Railway.

This part of Britannia was occupied by a tribe known as the Cornovii. In AD 46-47 the Roman Army under the direction of governor Aulius Plautius had probably occupied the lands to the south of the River Trent, so in AD 50 this was the front line. There is a shortage of written documentation about these years so reliance is made on archaeological excavations.Late in 47 the new governor of Britain, Ostorius Scapula, began a campaign against the tribes of modern-day Wales, and the Cheshire Gap. During these times Strutts Park Roman fort, was one of the new forts built along the new supply road from Wroxeter to Rossington.