DescriptionNAR SN42SW1
1. Cropmark at SN415204 is Cadw SAM No.=CM234 (see also Nprn 92890).
2. Roman town of MORIDVNVM: thought to be the civitas capital of the DEMETAE: known from early finds (RCAHM 1917), along with investigation of a probable bathhouse (Jones 1911); town identified & explored in a series of excavations, 1968-9 (Jones 1969; 1970); 1976 & 1978 (James 1978; 2003, 169-181); 1980-84 & 1987 (James 2003, 47-168), & 1986 (James 2003, 197-203) a fort/military settlement (Nprn92890) was succeeded by civil settlement, with a street grid laid out in the first part of the 2nd C. AD; a defensive circuit was established c.200 AD, with later stone walls, the enclosure, c.400m NE-SW by 375m, being shaddowed in the current street plan: occupation continued into the 4th C. AD, featuring hypocausted masonry buildings, possibly with mosaic floors: an amphitheatre has been explored & is partly laid out for public display to the NE of the town (Nprn303957): burials are known, c.2.2km WSW of the walled town (Purdue & Evans 2001) & close to the amphitheatre (Crane 2001).
Source: Jones 1911 in the Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society & Field Club 4 (1911), 66-9
RCAHMW 1917 'Carmarthenshire Inventory' (1917)
Jones in the Carmarthenshire Antiquary 5 (1969), 2-5
6 (1970), 4-14
James in Boon (ed.) 'Monographs & Collections I' (1978), Cambrian Archaeological Association I, 63-106
'Excavations in Roman Carmarthen 1978-1990' (2003), Britannia Monograph 20.
Crane in Archaeology in Wales 41 (2001), 132
Purdue & Evans in Archaeology in Wales 41 (2001), 132
J.Wiles 18.08.04
