Roman Portland

Early Portlanders succumbed to the great invasion by the Romans in 43 AD after 500 years in the Iron Age. The Romans were based at their nearby capital of Durnovaria (Dorchester), but they also settled in some strength on Portland. Countless fragments from the Roman occupation have been found all over the island, including many coins from the 1st to the 4th century AD.

The Romans like other regimes throughout history, took full advantage of Portland�s great natural strategic position. The top of Verne Hill was a superb vantage point over the English Channel, and was the likely site of a signal station. An existing huge hilltop camp on this high summit was strengthened in Romano British times, earthworks being remoulded to make full advantage of the natural cliffs on its north and east sides, and a deep fissure to the south.

A tessellated pavement, possibly from a villa or even a temple was found near Belle Vue Terrace at Fortuneswell, but of this there is now no trace nor detailed record. It was probably the Romans who made the first ponds and wells from springs where settlements were established at Fortunes Well, Maiden Well (High Street), Merry Well (by Pound Piece), Wakeham, Weston and Southwell.

Countless graves of the period have been found, including sarcophagi hewn from solid stone, many containing pottery, fibulae and weapons. Most burials have been found near Southwell, Wakeham, on Verne Common, and north of the Grove where 200 stone lined burials with crouched human remains were found by convicts in 1851. One Roman coffin was 7 feet Long, weighed a ton and contained the remains of a man and a woman.

Numerous finds have been made in all parts of Portland over the last 200 years, pointing to a substantial Roman presence here. Most of this evidence was uncovered in the course of quarrying or development which has engulfed so much of the Island�s surface. This means that our knowledge rests on the care and diligence of those who recorded the finds, as the site context has been destroyed, along with vast tracts of land whose secrets are now lost forever. However a great many artefacts are preserved in the Portland, Weymouth and Dorset Museums, from which we can piece together a picture of life here in Romano-British times. Despite the destruction of land major archaeological discoveries are still being made: 2004 saw the unearthing of substantial buildings from the Roman and mediaeval periods under a playing field at Weston. Excavations are under way to determine the extent and nature of this site, which promises to be one of the most exciting in recent times.

Remains found at Roman villas at Dorchester, and elsewhere, show that Portland Stone was being worked and exported from the Island in Roman times. Naturally exposed on the cliff faces, blocks were broken off and tumbled down to the foreshore for loading on to barges or rafts. With no bridge to the mainland, Smallmouth Sands (now by Ferry Bridge) could only be forded at calm low water. This sole land route was always dangerous and unreliable, so until modern times all heavy merchandise from the Island was taken by sea. Loads would have been taken to a little port near what is now known as Weymouth - possibly at Radipole. From there the Roman road went over Ridgeway Hill to Dorchester.

Portland Stone was used extensively in Roman burials, for which cutting, lifting and movement of the huge blocks must have been quite a task. The Romans marked their building stone blocks by a series of cuts to denote figures of volume. Remarkably such quarry marks were used almost unchanged throughout history until the 1950�s. It is likely that skills of quarrying and masonry learnt in Roman times were never lost, and provided the foundation of the later Portland stone industry.

What was the Roman name for Portland? For long this was thought to have been �Vindelis� but the writer has found no conclusive evidence to support this. In fact some academic research points to �Vindelis� being Belle Isle off the coast of France. Hopefully the definitive answer will be found in due course.

�Portland; an Illustrated History� ISBN 0 946159 34 3.

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