Silchester

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Roman town, see Calleva Atrebatum.

Silchester church and Roman wall

Silchester is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It is best known for the adjacent archaeological site and Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, which was first occupied by the Romans in about AD 45 and which includes what is thought to be the best-preserved Roman wall in Great Britain.

1 Location
2 Local government
3 Amenities
4 External Links

[edit] Location

Silchester is located at grid reference SU627620, ten miles south-west of Reading and five miles north of Basingstoke. The village is sometimes referred to as Silchester Common as that is where it stands, some distance from the parish church and the old manor (now Manor Farm) just within the eastern walls of the Roman town.

[edit] Local government

Silchester is a civil parish with an elected parish council. Silchester parish falls within the area of Basingstoke and Deane District Council and of Hampshire County Council and all three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 918.

[edit] Amenities

Silchester has its own primary school, but children aged 11 to 16 that receive normal (state-funded) education are likely to attend The Hurst Community College in Baughurst.

The medieval parish church of St Mary stands just within the old Roman walled town, probably on the site of a Roman temple. It has a fine rood screen, an interesting canopied pulpit and several minor church monuments.

The village public house is called the Calleva Arms, a reference to Calleva Atrebatum, the large town Roman town lying near the present village. There is an active community with regular events and village activities through the year including a fun run, village fair, barn dance and music festival. Pictures of these and many other community events can be seen at Pete's Silchester Pages. The village is also famed for the amateur dramatic society, the 'Silchester Players'.