Architecture in Roman Britain

The Roman period was Britain's great architectural age, though this is difficult to appreciate from the ruinous state of the sites that survive. 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 temples and civil engineering projects.

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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.