The Roman period was Britain’s first great architectural age, though this is difficult to appreciate from the ruinous state of the sites that survive. Understanding the types and range of buildings that existed in Roman Britain depends on careful excavation of foundations and wall footings, together with fragments of windows, roofs and carved architectural decoration discovered among the debris. When this evidence is taken together with examples of better-preserved buildings that still exist in Europe, the Near East and North Africa, it is possible to recreate something of the architecture of Roman Britain.
This book looks at how in a few years Britain witnessed the design and erection of an astonishing range of buildings, from mundane and functional houses through to exotic temples and ambitious civil engineering projects. Some of Britain’s Roman architects turn out to have been innovators.
Reconstruction drawings and paintings by the author bring these vanished buildings back to life and recreate a lost world of forts, basilicas, theatres, baths, arches, classical temples, villas and lighthouses.
The author, Guy de la Bédoyère, has degrees in archaeology and modern history from Durham University, the University of London and the Institute of Archaeology. His main field of study is the history and archaeology of Roman Britain, on which he has written 12 book. He has presented a series on Roman Britain for BBC Radio 4 and BBC2, and has made numerous appearances on Channel 4’s popular archaeology series Time Team.