Lesson video

Hello there and welcome to today's history lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss, I'm really passionate about history and I'm also really looking forward to teaching you, with you today, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears and your thinking brains.

As well as that, having something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

All right then, let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In today's history lesson, we are going to be thinking about towns in Roman Britain.

Our outcome will be, I can describe how many Roman towns in Britain were designed.

Here are the key words for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Hillfort, Amphitheatre, Forum, aqueduct.

A Celtic Hillfort was built on top of a hill and surrounded by wooden fences for protection.

And amphitheatre was a large arena that hosted public entertainment like gladiator fights and plays.

A forum was an important area in the middle of an ancient Roman town where people would meet, and an aqueduct was a series of bridges used to transport clean drinking water to towns.

So we are going to be considering how people in Britain moved from living in hillforts to Roman towns.

Upon the arrival of the Romans, these Roman towns included things like amphitheatres, forums and aqueducts.

So we are looking at towns in Roman Britain.

We're going to begin by thinking about the shift from hillforts to Roman towns.

Then we're going to take a journey through Corinium Dobunnorum.

Let's get on with looking at from hillforts to towns.

So the largest settlements built by the Celts had been hillfort.

If you look to the right here, you can see a photo of where a Celtic hillford used to be.

You can see the raised up plateau on which those roundhouses and Celtic buildings would've been.

There would likely also have been wooden fences around the edge to protect it.

You'll notice that it's built upwards with a ditch surrounding it for protection with earth walls topped with wooden fences.

There were places to run to in times of war.

I remember that the Celtic tribes often fought each other.

So these protected areas are very important during these times of war.

Although they could fit hundreds of people inside a hillfort, very few people would live there for long periods of time.

Let's check.

The largest sediments that the Celts had built were called skyforts, hillforts, groundforts? Complete the sentence now, off you go.

Great job, the largest settlements that Celts had built were called hillforts.

And remember, these were protected areas to go during times of war.

They weren't often permanent settlements.

People didn't live there for a very long time.

When the ancient Romans began building in Britain, their buildings were very, very different to the Celtic hillforts.

We can see here an artist illustration of what an ancient Roman town may have looked like very different to a hillfort.

These were permanently places in which people would live permanently.

Tens of thousands of people could live in an ancient Roman city, so they were much larger than the Celtic hillforts and they were places of permanent residents.

In today's lesson, we're going to be thinking about what many of these Roman towns in Britain would've looked like and their features.

People came from all over the Roman Empire to live, work, and trade in these new towns and cities in Britain.

And we can see a map here showing the Roman Empire when it was at its largest.

People would've come from all over this empire.

And in fact, archaeologists have evidence showing that items and people moved from all over the empire to be traded within Britain at this time.

The ancient Romans had to build lots of new paved roads across Britain to connect these new towns and cities that they built.

And if you look very carefully at the map to the left here, you can see our key lines that are in colours showing some of the major Roman roads that connected towns in Britain.

We can see Stane Street, Dere Street, Ermine Street, Akeman Street, Portway, Fosse Way, Watling Street, which indeed played an important role, particularly in 60 CE when there was a great battle here between Queen Boudicca and the Romans.

And then we have some other roads also in our light grey colour.

Here we have in Orange Watling Street, which ran all the way through from Dover up to Chester, a key connection within Roman Britain.

Roads such as this had not previously been here.

The Celts were not able to build such roads.

Laura is thinking about the ancient Roman buildings of new towns in Britain.

Help Laura complete her sentence to connect their new towns and cities.

The ancient Romans, what did they build? What did they do? Complete that sentence for Laura, off you go.

Brilliant job, to connect their new towns and cities, the ancient Romans built new paved roads and we're going to be taking a look at these paved roads in just a moment.

For our practise task now what I'd like us to do is to sort the statements below according to whether they describe Celtic Hillforts or Roman towns, we have the statements built for safety.

Thousands of people could live in them, had earthen walls with wooded fences.

Most people would not live there for a long time, and they were connected by paved roads.

Read the sentences carefully.

Do they describe Celtic Hillforts or Roman towns? Sort them now, off you go.

Great job team.

I'm pretty impressed, you've clearly picked up a lot of knowledge here and considered the differences between Celtic Hillforts and the Roman towns that were built after the Romans arrived.

So I'm hoping you manage to sort them like this.

Your answers should look like this.

Celtic hillforts were built for safety, particularly during times of war, had earthen walls with wooden fences.

We don't have those wooden fences remaining in many cases, but archaeologists have worked out where they think they would've been.

But we do have those earthen banks or walls leading up to those plateaus on which Celtic Roundhouses would've been.

Most people would not live there for a long time.

This is true, they were often places of short term protection during times of war.

And then if we compare those with Roman towns that the Romans built, thousands of people could have lived in them.

And indeed, we have evidence of some of the largest Roman towns having thousands of people living in them, and they were connected by paved roads.

Think back to that map that we looked at with those incredible paved roads that the Romans built to connect all of these key Roman towns, something that Celts could not build.

So we spent some time comparing how the people in Britain lived before the Romans arrived, what Celtic Hillforts would've looked like.

As well as this, we've now looked and begun to start thinking about Roman towns and what they would've looked like and how they were connected by Roman roads.

Now we're going to really look specifically at a Roman town called Corinium Dobunnorum, a Roman town that was built after the Roman invasion.

Let's imagine a journey through Corinium Dobunnorum, a place where three ancient Roman roads met.

And you can see it on our map here it is in the west of England.

Corinium Dobunnorum is its Latin Roman name.

Today we call it Cirencester.

Can you say that for me? Cirencester.

And it is a very famous town with lots of Roman remains.

It gives us a really great insight into what Roman towns during this period would've looked like.

Here is an illustration of how archaeologists believe Corinium Dobunnorum was laid out.

It was the second largest town in Rome Britain.

And so it is a really interesting case study for us as as historians to understand what the larger Roman towns in Britain could have looked like.

What do you notice about the roads in the town, but also the roads leading into the town? Can you see the three roads that are leading into it and then the roads that are within the town itself? Take a moment to study this image here, this illustration of what archaeologists think Corinium Dobunnorum would've been laid out like, what do you notice? Pause the video and have a think.

Brilliant.

I've noticed lots of things here, but in particular I've noticed some things about the roads.

All of the roads are straight are one of the key things that I've noticed.

You can notice they're all straight.

Another thing, you may have noticed, the streets are in a grid pattern.

The Romans are quite well known for being quite organised in the way they laid out new towns and cities.

And you can see they're kept in this grid pattern so that they could have straight neat roads and then the buildings would've been laid out within these grids.

So think about what we just learned.

Choose two correct statements about Corinium Dobunnorum or Cirencester.

The streets were in a grid pattern.

None of the roads were straight.

It was the smallest town in Britain, or it was the second biggest town in Roman Britain.

Pause the video now and choose the two correct statements about Corinium Dobunnorum.

Brilliant job.

Well, the streets were in a grid pattern, weren't they? They were in those rows and columns like that.

None of the roads were straight, we know this is not true.

We know that the Romans built straight roads.

It was the smallest town in Roman, Britain.

I don't think so.

It's believed that it was the second biggest town in Rome and Britain.

So a very important case study for us as historians.

Let's take a journey through Corinium Dobunnorum then.

Let's imagine a young woman as she approaches Corinium Dobunnorum on her horse.

Her name is Senovara and she lives in Corinium Dobunnorum.

She's been on a trip and she's now returning back to Corinium Dobunnorum.

Let's put ourselves in her boots and imagining we are returning home to Corinium Dobunnorum.

Travelling into Corinium Dobunnorum, Senovara would've passed the amphitheatre.

So let's imagine she's coming on the road to the left here.

She's gone past the burial ground and on her right now is the amphitheatre.

Can you say that word for me? Amphitheatre.

Let's think about what an amphitheatre was then.

What do you think it was for? Try and break the word down.

Can you spot a word in a word here? Brilliant, well, I've spotted the word theatre in there and I recognise that word.

I know what theatres are for today, so this might give me a hint as to what an amphitheatre was.

We can see this circular shape that is labelled amphitheatre in the bottom left of our map here.

These were for entertaining thousands of people with events like plays and gladiator fights.

And we can see here this circular shape with seating and a pit in the middle.

Here is an illustration of how the amphitheatre at Corinium Dobunnorum might have looked.

This is what historians think it may have looked like with the road then leading off into the town.

You can see it's quite large and would've been able to host many people.

Corinium Dobunnorum had an amphitheatre because it was a big town and therefore the thousands of people living within the town would've needed entertainment.

Something that the Romans believed was an important part of society.

That entertainment of the people.

The Romans remembered the Celts have rebelled against him in the past.

If we think back to the rebellions by people like Boudicca who burned down and Londinium.

So the Romans were sure to build strong defensive walls around places like Corinium Dobunnorum.

Here we can see the photos of the remains of Roman walls in France, which may have been very similar to the walls found in a place like Corinium Dobunnorum.

Towns like Corinium Dobunnorum then were protected with strong walls and gates in case the Celts attacked Roman towns.

Select the event that would not have happened in the ancient Roman amphitheatre, at Corinium Dobunnorum, we have gladiator fights, plays and music and car racing which event would not have happened? What is quite clear, isn't it? The one that is anachronistic here that would not have happened is car racing.

Cars were not around at this time, but the Romans did have gladiator fights and plays and music in amphitheatres to entertain the people.

The streets of ancient Roman towns like Corinium Dobunnorum were in a grid pattern.

Can you see a photo of a model of a part of an ancient Roman town here, you can see the streets in straight lines interconnected and the buildings within those grids.

Think back to that map of how archaeologists think.

Corinium Deum is laid out, the straight roads in grids.

There were markets selling items from all over the Roman empire and houses and other buildings within these grid structures.

Think back again to that map of the Roman empire that we looked at earlier.

At its height, it spanned a huge, huge area and trade across this empire and movement of people was key.

Travelling into the middle of Corinium Dobunnorum, Senovara would've reached the forum.

If you looked right in the centre at where we have our Roman numeral one.

Can you see that forum? This was a really key part of any Roman town.

What do you think a forum was then? If it is right at the centre of a town, have a think.

Great, the forum was a very important place in an ancient Roman town.

Here we have an illustration of an ancient Roman forum.

The key thing to note here is that it says open space and that many people are found here.

It was like the heart of a Roman town.

It was a place for meetings, public speeches, celebrations and even criminal trials.

So a really key central part of any Roman town where people from the community would gather.

True or false, the forum was not an important part of an ancient Roman town.

Off you go.

Brilliant, this is completely false.

Can we justify our answer? The forum was of course a really important part of Roman town.

It was in the middle of the town because it was very important.

It was on the edge of town because it was very important.

Which justification helps us here to justify our answer, A or B? Off you go.

Great job team.

Well, we know that this statement is false because it was in the middle of town because it was very important.

Remember, the forum is this place where the communities could gather for speeches, criminal trials to trade and to meet.

The roads in towns like Corinium Dobunnorum were paved with stones.

Remember I mentioned earlier we're going to be coming back to have a look at these Roman roads.

Here we have a photo of remains of an ancient Roman road from Pompeii.

The roads in Corinium Dobunnorum would've been very similar to this.

Do you notice how they're paved with large stones? They have curbs and they're quite straight, making up that grid pattern like we had in Corinium Dobunnorum.

You may also notice that they built them stepping stones across the street like this, crossing points for people to use.

some of the wealthier homes in Corinium Dobunnorum like Senovara's if we imagine that she's a wealthy, young, Roman, may have had painted frescoes like this on the walls and mosaics on the floors.

We have evidence from other Roman settlements and houses that show how wealthy villas would've been decorated like that of Chedworth Villa, also in Roman Britain.

You can see the mosaics and the houses here and also the frescoes painted onto the walls.

These are the photos from inside a really well preserved ancient Roman house in Pompeii.

But there may have been similar houses decorated like this in a wealthy large town like Corinium Dobunnorum in Roman Britain.

Ancient Romans were very good at bringing clean water to towns.

Here we have a photo of the remains of an ancient Roman aqueduct.

Can you say that word for me? Aqueduct.

You can almost hear that word aqui there to do with water, duct meaning road or way.

So an aqueduct is a way of transporting water.

To do this, they built those aqueducts.

Wooden water pipes have been found in the remains of Corinium Dobunnorum, which probably once connected to an aqueduct that would've brought clean water from outside of the town into the town for the people living there.

Aqueducts were not found in Britain until the Romans arrived.

So aqueducts were built by the ancient Romans to carry, to towns and cities, soldiers, animals, or water? Great job team.

You've clearly been paying a lot of attention.

Aqueducts were built by the ancient Romans to carry water to towns and cities.

Now remember, we have evidence from Corinium Dobunnorum of wooden pipes that would've connected to an aqueduct carrying that water into the town.

So for our practise task now what I'd like you to do is add descriptions to the labels on the plan of of Corinium Dobunnorum.

Use the knowledge from this learning cycle.

Consider what each of the labels means and the evidence that we have of them.

We have paved streets.

Consider how they were laid out, what they are made of.

We have the forum right in the centre of Corinium Dobunnorum.

What was the forum for? Why was it so important, where was it placed? We have Senovara's home, which could have been here if we imagine it.

What were wealthy Roman houses during this period like, what may have decorated them? And then we have on the outside the amphitheatre, this large circular building.

What are amphitheatres used for? What occurred there? Add some description to these labels now, off you go.

Excellent job team.

You've clearly learned a lot from this learning cycle, and you clearly now know a lot about what Roman towns in Britain, especially larger ones could have been like and their features.

Corinium Dobunnorum is an excellent case study of a large Roman town during this period.

So you might have added to your labels, paved streets in a grid pattern.

We know they're in straight lines.

We know that we have these Roman roads running throughout Britain to connect these large, new Roman settlements.

You may also have added the fact that they might have used raised up paved stones to create stepping stones across the roads.

The fact that there were curbs, the amphitheatre was for shows that entertain people.

There may have been plays or theatrical shows or gladiatorial fights here.

The forum was right in the centre of town and was an important meeting place for the Roman community within Corinium Dobunnorum and Senovara's home had water in pipes from an aqueduct and had painted walls and potentially mosaics because she was a wealthy Roman.

Did you have anything else to add? Do you need to add any more detail to your labels now? Take the time to share anything extra you've added and add more detail to your labels now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job in today's history lesson team.

We've been looking at towns in Roman Britain.

We compared what the largest settlements in Celtic Britain were like those hillforts that were built for safety.

And now we've also looked at Roman towns.

The ancient Romans built bigger towns in Britain for thousands of people to live in permanently, connected by paved roads.

Corinium Dobunnorum or Cirencester, as it's called today, was a large Roman town with an amphitheatre and grid pattern for streets.

Roman towns usually had a forum in the middle for meetings and sometimes aqueduct carried water to them.

And we have evidence of this.

Keep up the great history learning and I'll see you again soon.