WESTON NEWS
The Early History of Weston-under-Penyard

 

Edited extracts from “Weston-under-Penyard*”
Reproduced by kind permission of David Herrod & The Weston-under-Penyard Millennium Celebration Committee.

At the time of Jesus' birth members of the local Celtic tribe, probably the Silures, were frequent travellers along the tracks that climbed up to their encampment on Chase Hill. These people were skilful metal workers, using iron ore and a plentiful supply of wood from the forest for forges.
 
A town called Ariconium was known to exist from a contemporary description of its distance from Glevum (Gloucester) and Blestium (Monmouth), but its precise location was not known until the late eighteenth century when Thomas Hopkins Merrick of Bollitree made the first discoveries.
 
An excavation carried out by G H. Jack in the 1920s uncovered part of a road 8-12ft. wide, running southwards. He also excavated furnaces and found areas of slag, which suggested that Ariconium developed as an important smelting centre rather than as a garrison town. It has even been described as a sort of "Roman Birmingham."
 
© The Weston-under-Penyard Millennium Celebration Committee 2001

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