In AD 44, the 20th Legion of around 6,000 soldiers was on its way to Cirencester, heading to a temporary camp at Whittlebury, where they were to supervise the building of a local stretch of Watling Street – a Roman road. Their route brought them close to Brackley, and at a later date, some of them came to live in the area now known as the Roman estate, off Buckingham Road.

Excavations between 1971 and 1974, which took place before this estate was built, revealed evidence of an extensive Roman settlement. Finds included pottery, Samian ware, roof and flue tiles, tesserae, plaster, and much coarse ware – all indicating late Roman occupation.

Among the discoveries were coins of Severus Alexander, Tetricus I, Gallienus, and Crispus, along with foundations of walls, a cobbled floor, and a covered stone gully. Additionally, a Roman gold signet ring was found in 1974 in a garden in Brackley. The findspot lies immediately north of a site believed to be a possible villa, and the ring is engraved with a representation of the goddess Ceres.

The most striking find discovered near Brackley was a half life-sized (16.2 cm high) portrait of the emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (ruled AD 161-180). It was hollow, cast in heavily leaded bronze using iron spacers, traces of which can still be seen on the top of the head, both inside and out. Most strikingly, the emperor was given bright blue eyes, with the bronze inlaid with cobalt coloured glass. Equally unusual are the cone-shaped coils of beard projecting sharply from the head, and the disconnected, upturned moustaches. Little effort was made to distinguish the ears and nose, and there are no eyebrows. In contrast, the almond shaped inlaid eyes are heavily outlined. The mouth is a single, downturned line. These unnaturalistic features can be compared to some twenty heads of gods and mortals, cast in bronze or carved in stone at a similar scale, which have been found in southeast England and northern France.

Though most of the finds are now in the Ashmolean or Northampton Museum, local detectorist Mr. James Possinger has kindly allowed Brackley Community Museum to display his personal finds over the next couple of months in their cabinets at Brackley Library.

Brackley Library is on Manor Rd. 

Opening hours are:
Monday – Friday: 9am – 5pm
Saturday: 10am – 2pm

Sunday: Closed

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