Mansiones were the official stations in the cursus publicus system across the Empire, although it was not always the case that a specifically built structure was used for this purpose (E. Black 1995: 9). There is no detailed description of a mansio in literary sources, making identification difficult (ibid.: 17).75 In Romano-British towns, recognised mansiones take the form of large courtyard structures, usually near the edge of the town on the road network, although it is not always possible to distinguish them from courtyard houses with complete certainty. Mansiones may have had a wider variety of functions than the specific role that they played in the cursus publicus, over time acquiring other functions such as providing the setting for transactions of local government (ibid.: 94). Black draws particular attention to the tripartite entrance hall identified in the plan ofsome mansiones, including those at Silchester and Verulamium, and discusses the likelihood that the main hall would have been used for formal functions of government. Their prominent positions within some towns where few or no other public buildings are yet known, such as Chelmsford (Drury 1988) and Godmanchester (H. Green 1975), indicates that they probably performed some similar functions to the forum-basilica complexes here. In some cases 'small towns’, such as Brandon Camp and Leintwardine, developed around mansiones (E. Black 1995: 29-3o).
Possible mansiones have also been identified at Aldborough, Canterbury, and Carmarthen, although very little is known about the structures because of the small scale of the excavations. At Wroxeter, a possible mansio has been recognised through aerial photography and geophysical survey (White and Barker 1998: 75), whereas excavated examples come from Silchester (Boon 1974: 81), Verulamium (E. Black 1995: 81-2; Wheeler and Wheeler 1936: 95), and two at London (Bateman 1998: 56; Cowan 1992). A courtyard structure has recently been excavated at Leicester on the Vine Street site, in the northeast section of the town. The plan and location of the building suggests that it may have been a mansio or alternatively it could simply have been a townhouse (T. Higgins personal communication).
Of the identified buildings (Table 5.6), there would appear to be a number in which at least part of the building remained standing into the fifth century and beyond, including the Leicester Vine Street building and the Chelmsford, Southwark (London), Silchester, and Verulamium buildings. There is insufficient data on the mansiones in Aldborough, table 5.6. Details showing the known date of the latest structural alterations and demolition of the known mansiones within each town
Canterbury, and Carmarthen to be certain about their late use. Parts of the mansio at Southwark appear to have been demolished in the early fourth century, but other parts of the structure (mostly beyond the limits of the excavation) seem to have remained standing and in use to a much later date (Cowan 1992: 60-1). That mansiones probably had a number of roles adds complexity to understanding their use in the later Roman period. If mansiones did take on some formal functions of local government, as argued by Black (1995: 94), then this role may have become more significant in the late Roman period in some towns if the basilica was no longer used for such functions.
World History
