We Built this City on Rock and Romans: A geospatial comparison of Economy, Infrastructure, Settlement and Culture between Dorchester, Dorset, and Winchester, Hampshire, and their Environs during the Period 300AD- 700AD.

Abstract

The Roman military notoriously left Britain in 410AD after unrest on the Empire’s borders and the sacking of Rome by Alaric and his band of Goths - a period of economic collapse followed in Britain… Or did it? This project endeavoured to define the urban developments (or lack of) that took place over the period 300-700AD in the two Roman towns of Dorchester, Dorset and Winchester, Hampshire, from a geospatial, economic, cultural and logistical perspective in an attempt to discover why Winchester became a major centre by the Early Medieval Period, while Dorchester remained a suburban outpost? A GIS database was compiled in Ersi ArcGIS containing all known sites that fell within the study areas including settlements, production centres, villas, farmsteads, cemeteries, religious buildings and all their associated infrastructure. This project collected 347 sites, these were then subject to spatial analysis in order to identify patterns and trends which may lead to a better understanding of economic and social development of the period. Spatial analysis techniques included queries, buffers, topographic assessment, cluster analysis and density assessment. Results have indicated that perhaps the Roman towns of Winchester and Dorchester were not as equal economic centres as first believed with factors such as Imperial industries, economic revolutions and ecclesiastical institutions acting as catalysts on the developmental trajectories of these urban centres.