Tripontium
Tripontium was a Roman town, situated in England upon the Watling Street Roman road, just outside modern-day Rugby on the Warwickshire/Leicestershire border.
It is believed that the town was founded in around AD 50 and was inhabited for around 400 years until the late fourth century when the Romans left Britain. The name "Tripontium" means "three bridges."
It is believed that Tripontium was an important stopping place for travelers and passing Roman armies. It is also believed that at least one Roman emperor visited Tripontium.
The town is recorded in the Antonine Itineraries, a third century document which recorded the journeys taken by the Roman Emperors. Tripontium is featured as a stopping place in at least one of these documents.
Excavations
The exact position of Tripontium remained a mystery for centuries, but its position was located by the antiquarian Matthew Bloxam in 1836. Excavation work on the site began in 1961 by the 'Rugby Archeological Society'.
It was innitially though that Tripontium was a small wayside settlement of little importance, however excavations of the site have revealed it to be an important Romano-British town, with baths and several large administrative buildings, along with numerous pieces of pottery Roman coins and other remains.
Evidence has also been found at the site of iron smelting.
The site is not presently open to the public but many of the excavations are on public show at a museum in Rugby.
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