Imagine summoning up an outpost of Ancient Rome in modern Norfolk…
With the free Caistor Roman Town Augmented Reality app you can time travel to Venta Icenorum, once the largest Roman town in East Anglia built in Iceni territory after Boudicca’s doomed rebellion. Life was comfortably sophisticated in this elegant settlement, established in AD70. Arranged in a grid of streets, facilities included running water, an amphitheatre, temples, baths, a town hall (basilica) and central public meeting place (forum). Archaeological excavations have revealed remains of inkwells, styli and graffiti, suggesting the 2,000 residents had international links and a high degree of literacy.
On a clear, fresh autumn day, climb up to the circular embankment. The town wasn’t enclosed at first, with the banks and walls visible today built in the 3rd century AD. Standing under Norfolk’s beautiful big skies you get a fantastic sense of the vantage point used by Roman guards scanning the vast rolling landscape for enemies, or perhaps friends! Using the app, look down into the settlement area to experience the town and its everyday objects brought to life.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire the market town began to decay, finally abandoned in the 8th century when Norwich became the county’s main civic settlement. Little Roman masonry still stands at the encampment – although a walk around today’s village of Caistor St Edmund gives you a clue as to where it went!
Download the app before heading to Caistor St Edmund. Watch a sneak preview here.
