OSMap: LR164
Type: Temple
|
NGRef: SP5312 OSMap: LR164 Type: Temple |
|
| Roads | |
|---|---|
|
See Islip (Oxfordshire) | |
This square temple lies in Middle Hill Field within a temenos beside the Dorchester-Alchester road, about four miles north of Oxford. The outer portico measured 37½ feet by 36½ feet, the inner cella 19 feet by 16 ft. 5 in. The outer wall was an almost uniform 2½ feet wide, the inner wall varying between 1½-2 feet. The temple probably faced east. The original building was erected around AD65 with a wooden portico which later burnt to the ground, This wooden building was replaced by one of stone during the late-2nd century at the same time the temenos was included. The temple remained in use until the 5th century. (Type Ic or Id)
| D M DECMVS MALVS... |
|---|
| "To the shades of the departed Decimus Malus[ius ...]" (RIB 240; limestone tombstone fragment; found 1934 during ploughing; now in Ashmolean Mus.; restored) |
There are five monumental inscriptions recorded in the R.I.B. for the Wood Eaton site. The only stone artifact is a tombstone (RIB 240 supra), all the others being of bronze, comprising parts of two inscribed plates and a total of nine brazen letters (RIB 236-239 infra). All of these pieces now reside in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
| Text | Location of Find | RIB |
|---|---|---|
| ...EDO | thin bronze plate found in 1841 | 236 |
| ...XENOVI... ...NDVX... ...IT... | bronze plate fragment found in 1953 during ploughing | 237 |
| A T V E/F | four bronze letters found during excavations in 1919 & 1934 | 238 |
| M N TI/IT I/L E/I | five bronze letters found in 1952 within temenos of Romano-Celtic temple | 239 |
