Roman Caerleon
Roman Caerleon is integral to the story of the Levels.
Constructed around AD 74/5, the fortress at Caerleon, known as Isca to the Romans, was one of only three permanent legionary bases in Britain and was home to the Second Augustan Legion for over 200 years.
Soldiers based at Caerleon were tasked with taming and draining the Levels, then wild coastal marshes. They dug drainage ditches (locally known today as ‘reens’) and low banks as sea defences to create improved year-round grazing for livestock and cavalry horses.
Although much of the Roman landscape now lies buried under centuries of later alluvium, the distinctive field pattern around Peterstone on the Wentlooge Levels is thought to be part of a relic Roman landscape. Several existing reens are also thought to be originally Roman constructions, such as Percoed Reen.
There have been many archaeological finds from this period, including the Goldcliff Stone, a carved ‘centurial stone’ that documents the work of a group of Roman soldiers working on the Levels, and the Barland’s Farm boat, a small 4th century Romano-British trading vessel, discovered 2 miles inland.
Working with digital artists Virtual Histories and the National Roman Legion Museum, we have created a virtual reconstruction of the Roman-era landscape and the legionary fortress as they might have looked at the end of the 2nd century AD.
The film starts on the western bank of the Usk, before crossing the mouth of the river and flying inland across the Levels, passing scattered Roman farmsteads and a large lake where the Spytty retail park now sits. Passing over the hills at Llanwern, we drop back down to the Usk and then along the valley to the magnificent Roman fortress of Isca Augusta (Caerleon).
Channel 4’s Time Team filmed an episode at Caerleon, exploring the recently discovered building complex to the south of the fortress.