Whose Identity Are We Talking About? The Imperial Melting Pot in Cheshire
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-07-19

Arguably from the first to the third centuries the ‘core’ areas of Roman Britain were the garrisons of the north and west, with the richer areas to the south and east representing the periphery. The intermediate ‘frontier zone’ of west Cheshire was a landscape of colonisation, populated to boost local supplies to the garrisons of the region.

The civilian population could have been as diverse in origin as the garrisons, of varying legal status, and in the countryside lived in small communities. Political and social organisation is unclear, and it is uncertain if the civitas Cornoviorum had any meaning. From the outside the distinctive character of the area may have been its social fragmentation, deep creolisation and dependence on the military. On the inside identities and loyalties again seem likely to have been fragmented. So far only one possible marker of local identity has been recognised, the ‘Wirral-style’ brooch.

Peter Carrington (Chester Archaeological Society)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: Location, Location, Location: Constructing Frontier Identity

Arguably from the first to the third centuries the ‘core’ areas of Roman Britain were the garrisons of the north and west, with the richer areas to the south and east representing the periphery. The intermediate ‘frontier zone’ of west Cheshire was a landscape of colonisation, populated to boost local supplies to the garrisons of the region.
The civilian population could have been as diverse in origin as the garrisons, of varying legal status, and in the countryside lived in small communities. Political and social organisation is unclear, and it is uncertain if the civitas Cornoviorum had any meaning. From the outside the distinctive character of the area may have been its social fragmentation, deep creolisation and dependence on the military. On the inside identities and loyalties again seem likely to have been fragmented. So far only one possible marker of local identity has been recognised, the ‘Wirral-style’ brooch.