Venta Icenorum



Venta Icenorum (, literally "marketplace of the Iceni") was the civitas or capital of the Iceni tribe, located at modern-day Caistor St Edmund in the English county of Norfolk. The Iceni inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and are famous for having revolted against Roman rule under their queen Boudica in the winter of 61 CE.

Roman town
The town itself was probably laid out, and its first streets metalled, in approximately the first half of the second century. The town, which is mentioned in both the Ravenna Cosmography and the Antonine Itinerary, was a settlement near the village of Caistor St. Edmund, some 5 mi south of present-day Norwich, and a mile or two from the Bronze Age henge at Arminghall. The site lies on the River Tas.

Archaeology
In 1928, an aerial reconnaissance flight of a farm near Caistor St Edmund rediscovered the ruins of Venta Icenorum. A five-year archaeological dig soon followed, led by archaeologist Donald Atkinson.

The site subsequently remained uninvestigated until the University of Nottingham reopened it in 2009 seeking Iron Age (Iceni) structures beneath the town. The evidence uncovered revealed that the site was not established on a previous Iron Age town, but was a newly built and sparsely populated frontier town focused on administration and trade. It also revealed a partial integration of the mainly agrarian locals into Roman norms.

The embankments of Venta Icenorum can still be seen at Caistor today. The ruins are in the care of The Norfolk Archaeological Trust and managed by South Norfolk District Council. In 2011, the Trust expanded the site by buying an additional 55 acres of land across the river opposite the West Gate.