Caerwent

Caerwent (Welsh: Caer-went) is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about 5 mi (8.0 km) west of Chepstow and 11 mi (18 km) east of Newport. It was founded by the Romans as the market town of Venta Silurum, an important settlement of the Brythonic tribe of Silures. The modern village is built around the Roman ruins, which are some of the best-preserved in Europe. It remained prominent through the Roman era and Early Middle Ages as the site of a road crossing between several important civic centres. The community includes the small village of Llanvair Discoed. In 2021 Caerwent village had a population of about 1,200.¹

Etymology

The modern name derives from Venta, an ancient British word denoting a "market", and Caer, a later Welsh word denoting a fortified settlement. The town would give its name to the post Roman successor kingdom of Gwent.²

Romans writers recorded the town as Venta Silurum to distinguish it from the other tribal markets in Britain such as Venta Belgarum (modern Winchester) and Venta Icenorum (modern Caistor St Edmund).

History

Roman times

Caerwent was founded by the Romans in AD 75 as a market town for the defeated Silures tribe. This is confirmed by inscriptions on the "Civitas Silurum" stone, now on display in the . Large sections of the Roman are still in place, rising up to 5 metres (16 ft) high in places. Historian John Newman has described the walls as: "easily the most impressive town defence to survive from , and in its freedom from later rebuilding one of the most perfectly preserved in Northern Europe." In 1881, a portion of a highly intricate coloured or , depicting different types of fish, was unearthed during excavations in the garden of a cottage.