Roman Warwickshire - Legions, towns and Boudica's last stand
At a glance
Time: 2 days
When the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 they moved quickly into the Midlands with two of the most important roads in Roman Britain - Watling Street and the Fosse Way in the county. These roads drew forts, settlements and military infrastructure with them. It was in this landscape that the Roman occupation of Britain reached one of its most dramatic turning points.
In AD 60, Boudica - queen of the Iceni, whose kingdom had been seized and whose family had been brutalised by Roman soldiers - led a coalition of British tribes in a revolt that burned Colchester to the ground and briefly threatened to drive Rome from the island entirely. Based on records from Roman historian Tacitus, most modern historians place the final decisive battle somewhere along Watling Street - and Mancetter in north Warwickshire is the most consistently argued candidate. After that defeat, the Romans tightened their grip, built a string of forts across the County, and the violence gave way to four centuries of civilian life: towns, trade routes, pottery industries and buried hoards of silver coins whose owners never came back for them.
This two-day itinerary traces both sides of that story. Check opening days and times and whether you need to pre-book with individual attractions.
Key highlights
- The Lunt Fort at Baginton - a partially reconstructed Roman fort
- Mancetter - on the road where Boudica may have fought her final battle
- The Roman Mancetter and Boudica Heritage Centre - view artefacts and exhibits, Atherstone
- Roman Alcester (Alauna)
- Chesterton Roman Town on the Fosse Way - a scheduled ancient monument beside a famous 17th-century windmill
- The Market Hall Museum, Warwick - the county's Roman collections, including two nationally significant hoards of silver denarii.
Day 1 – The Military Story: Boudica, the Legions and Watling Street
Stop 1: The Lunt Roman Fort, Baginton
Coventry Road, Baginton, CV8 3AJ
This timber fort on a natural plateau above the River Sowe, built in the immediate aftermath of Boudica's revolt around AD 60. The Romans had just suppressed the most serious challenge to their control of Britain, and the Lunt was established here as the high plateau offered significant natural defenses- to serve as a supply depot, headquarters and, most remarkably, as a cavalry training centre.
The circular training ring - the gyrus - constructed inside the fort is unique in Britain. Its circular form meant the standard rectangular fort plan had to be abandoned, giving the Lunt its distinctively curved eastern wall. The timber gateway, granary, gyrus and ramparts have all been reconstructed on the original foundations using tools and techniques the Roman army would have employed.
Note: The Lunt is open on select school holiday dates only. Pre-booking required - check the Lunt Fort website before visiting.
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Stop 2: Mancetter (Manduessedum) and St Peter's Church
St Peter's Church Mancetter CV9 1NH
The village of Mancetter sits on Watling Street at the point where the Roman road crosses the River Anker, and beneath it lies the site of the Roman fort of Manduessedum derived from the word for chariot. A fort named for chariots, on the road where the greatest chariot-commander in British history may have fought her final battle.
The site later developed into a substantial civilian settlement - The Roman Pottery Kiln industry at Mancetter is significant as it was one of the biggest producers of Roman Mortaria in Roman Britain. It had over 50 individual kilns and was productive for over 200 years, the mortaria are found throughout the midlands and northern England in the Roman period. Several pottery kilns producing mortaria - the heavy mixing bowls central to Roman domestic life - have been found in the surrounding area, along with the remains of a Roman villa. The fields around the village continue to yield Roman material after nearly two millennia.
Based on accounts from Roman historian Tacitus, most modern historians place Boudica's final battle somewhere in this landscape. The exact site remains genuinely contested - other candidates include High Cross on the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border and Church Stowe in Northamptonshire - but Mancetter has the most consistently argued claim.
The medieval Church of St Peter stands directly on the Roman fort site. Stand in the churchyard and look across the flat ground towards Watling Street. The Roman Mancetter exhibition, set up by Atherstone Civic Society, is a not-for-profit operation run with rigour and local pride. Small in scale but nationally significant in its ambitions - exactly the kind of local institution that rewards those who seek it out.
Open Saturdays. Check the website before visiting.
quam ut ipsum sed, vestibulum posuere libero. In ac fringilla turpis, ut efficitur nisi. Find on map
Stop 3: Lunch in Atherstone
Before heading to the next stop on the itinerary, why not find a cafe or pub in Atherstone for lunch.
Find on mapStop 4: Atherstone Heritage Centre, Atherstone
51 Long Street, Atherstone, CV9 1AZ
A short drive or walk from Mancetter, the Friends of Atherstone Heritage museum at number 51 Long Street connects the town's Roman story to Watling Street and includes displays on the area's wider Roman history.
Free entry.
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Stop 5: Rugby Art Gallery and Museum
Little Elborow Street, Rugby, CV21 3BZ
For those wanting to extend the Roman story further east, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum houses the Tripontium Gallery - a permanent display of artefacts from the Romano-British town of Tripontium. Tripontium stood on the strategically vital Watling Street close to Fosse Way on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border - the name means ‘the place of three bridges’. Presented in the style of a Roman marketplace, look at artefacts and learn about how Romans lived.
Find on mapDay 2 – Civilian Roman Warwickshire: Towns, roads and everyday life
Stop 6: Roman Alcester Museum
Globe House, Priory Road, Alcester, B49 5DZ ·
If day one was about the violence of conquest and resistance, day two is about what came after - the towns, trade routes and everyday lives of Roman Warwickshire across four centuries of occupation. Alcester is the best place to begin.
The Roman town of Alauna grew at the confluence of the Rivers Alne and Arrow, at the junction of two major roads - Ryknild Street and the Salt Way. The town developed from an early military post into a substantial walled civilian settlement with an industrial zone, a residential area and several cemeteries at its edges. Alcester is one of the most investigated Roman small towns in the country, with over 100 archaeological digs in the last 80 years. The Roman Museum draws on that wealth of material to tell the story clearly and accessibly - pottery, coins, jewellery, maps and hands-on activities fill the space, and the knowledgeable volunteers make a genuine difference to the visit. Allow at least an hour.
Only open on selected days of the week - check before you travel.
The drive from Alcester to Chesterton on the B4455 follows the line of the Fosse Way for most of its length - one super example of Roman road engineering in the Midlands. Worth noting as you drive it.
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Stop 7: Chesterton Roman Town and Chesterton Windmill
Windmill Hill Lane, Chesterton, CV33 9LB · Free to visit externally year-round.
One of the more quietly remarkable stops in the county for anyone interested in the deep Roman landscape. The scheduled Roman town of Chesterton was a defended enclosure of roughly 27 hectares, occupied from the 1st to the 4th century AD, with roads, buildings, wells and drainage systems. Excavations have also revealed the remains of a Roman villa with mosaic pavements in the fields nearby (sitting on private land, the site is mainly buried).
The site is largely concealed beneath fields still carrying the later ridge and furrow of medieval ploughing, though the substantial earthwork ditches of the camp remain visible in places - on the northern side running up to four metres deep. The Fosse Way passes directly through the site as the B4455. You are simply standing in a scheduled ancient monument, reading the landscape without a visitor centre or interpretation board to help you.
An additional reason to come is for the extraordinary 17th-century windmill rising on its stone arches above the hill. Stand at the top of the landscape for a birds eye view of the Fosse Way and countryside crossed by Romans.
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Stop 8: Lunch in Warwick
Whether you’re in need of a light lunch or settling in for a long, hearty dinner, Warwick’s independent food scene has plenty to tempt you. From cosy cafés tucked down historic side streets to welcoming pubs and stylish restaurants overlooking centuries-old landmarks, the town offers something for every appetite.
Find on mapStop 9: Market Hall Museum, Warwick
Market Place, Warwick, CV34 4SA
The logical finale to two days of Roman Warwickshire. The 17th-century Market Hall in the heart of Warwick houses the County's archaeology collections and brings the scattered Roman evidence of the region together in one place. The collections run to around 12,000 objects from the Roman period, drawn from excavations at Alcester, Mancetter, Coleshill and dozens of smaller sites across the county.
Among the highlights are two hoards of Roman silver denarii from south Warwickshire, both of national significance - objects buried by people who never came back for them, whose absence speaks across two thousand years. Guided tours are available from volunteer guides, free of charge, and last around 45 minutes - worth booking ahead via the Heritage Box Office.
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