DUROTRIGES

The Durotriges

Tribe: Durotriges
Capital: DVRNOVARIA
Location: Dorchester, Dorset.
Extent: Dorset, S. Wilts., S. Somerset, Devon.
Notes: No pre-Roman tribal centre. Mint at Hengistbury Head. Unusual density of powerful hillforts. Fiercely independant baronies rather than a unified state.

Principal Tribal Sites

DVRNOVARIA [DVROTRIGVM] (Dorchester, Dorset) - The accepted civitas capital of the Durotriges. A large walled town.

LINDINIS (Ilchester, Somerset) - Was the only other walled town apart from Durnovaria, and was possibly the centre of a separate tribal civitas of the northern Durotriges, if this is not the case, then it was certainly the centre of a second administrative pagus of the tribe.

Hengistbury Head - Ancient trading centre of the Durotriges on the south coast of Dorset. Evidently the site of one of the first Celtic mints in Britain.

The Southern Civitas Durotrages Durnovariensis

Centred on DVRNOVARIA

VINDOCLADIA (Badbury, Dorset) - Small settlement to take the displaced inhabitants of the nearby hillfort of Badbury Rings.
Woodyates - Small settlement or posting station near the borders with the Belgae.
Hamworthy, nr. Poole Harbour (Dorset) - Small port serving the campaign fortress of the Second Legion at Lake Farm, and the later settlement at Badbury.
Radipole, nr. Weymouth (Dorset) - A small port probably served Durnovaria.
Wareham (Dorset) - A known Saxon town, was preceeded by a Roman settlement of unknown extent, perhaps the centre of the extensive stone and shale quarries near Kimmeridge and Purbeck.

Industries of the Southern Civitas

The most important industry here, was the extraction and working of the Kimmeridge shale outcrops on the south coast, perhaps administrated from Wareham.

Several small potteries were dotted around Poole Harbour, and another at Bager, near Sturminster Newton.

Villas are rare but there is a notable example at Frampton.

Rural temples of the Southern Civitas

Jordan Hill (nr. Weymouth)
Maiden Castle - Inside the ramparts of the ancient hillfort.

The northern Civitas Durotrages Lindiniensis

Centred on LINDINIS

MORIDVNVM (nr. Honiton, Devon) - This town is mentioned in the Ravenna Cosmography, the Antonine Itinerary and the Peutinger Table, the latter two sources both place it 15 miles from Isca (Exeter), probably at Honiton, though apart from a probable Roman road junction, there is nothing to substantiate this. It is unknown whether the town should be assigned to the Durotriges or their western neighbours, the Dumnonii.

Industries of the Northern Civitas

The stone quarries at Ham Hill, south-west of Ilchester, were used extensively during Roman times.

The immediate area of Ilchester is posessed of the richest concentration of villas in the whole of Roman Britain; there are thirteen villas within a ten mile radius of the town, and a further twelve substantial Roman rural buildings, some of which may also have been villa estates.

Rural Temples of the Northern Civitas

West Coker (?) - A shrine to the god Mars Rigisamus.
South Brewsham (?) - A shrine north-west of Ilchester, may mark the border with the Belgae.

The Tribal Territories

Distribution of Coins of the Durotriges

The hatched area shows the approximate extent of the Durotrigian Canton.
From Barry Cunliffe's Iron Age Communities in Britain (Fig.7:7, pp.97; originally sourced from D.F. Allen, 1961a and 1962).

The Durotrigian Kings

The Durotriges were numbered among the few tribes of Celtic Britain which issued coinage, although unfortunately, none of the coins associated with the tribe bear inscriptions. Sadly, this means that we are left with no record of the names of any of the Dumnonian nobility.