Industrial Activities in Britannia

As the Roman Empire expanded throughout Europe, it brought profound changes to newly conquered lands. One of the later territories to be absorbed as a province was Britain, in the first century A.D. There, with the arrival of the Roman army and its-relatively speaking- very rapid advance north, a number of new, or at least improved, technologies were introduced. Although ceramics had been made in Britain for several millennia, new kiln (furnace) technology allowed far-better-quality vessels to be made.Furthermore, Iron Age Britain had developed a specialized and highly artistic metalworking industry; with Roman technologies came the ability to mass-produce items. Consequently, while iron Age communities had mastered many crafts and industries, what the Empire brought was the apparatus and the will to exploit these activities, with the initial impetus coming from the army.

It has long been recognized that the army was responsible for many industrial activities early on in the life of the new province of Britannia, and this conformed to the well-established pattern of conquest and Romanization. While undertaking and controlling industrial production had obvious fiscal, political, and even social benefits, it is unlikely that these were the initial motives for the role the army took in manufacturing. First and foremost the army was the largest consumer of goods in early Roman Britain, and what the legions required had to either be produced locally or more expensively imported from abroad. Consequently it made far more sense for the army to produce as many of its own goods as possible, on one hand saving limited financial resources but also ensuring a controlled supply of items that were vital to the day-to-day existence of the legions.

Not only did the active role of the army in industrial production make strategic sense, it was an ideal way to promote the spread of new technologies. While it is well recognized that legions themselves were made up of people from all over the Empire, what is more often overlooked is that the army consisted of individuals with diverse skills drawn from across most of the known world. Glassmaking, among other expertises, was not originally native to Britain or any of her immediate neighbors, but with the arrival of the army, practiced experts were immediately placed at the heart of Britannia. It was therefore inevitable, rather than just a matter of chance, that glassmaking became so quickly established in the first century A.D.

This association of the army with industrial processes can be seen archaeologically, with many production sites being associated with forts. A typical example can be seen at Temple borough, South Yorkshire, where excavations just prior to the First World Warm revealed the remains of a small glass furnace in the vicus, or attached settlement, of the fort. Obviously glassmaking was not the only industrial activity undertaken by the army, and it is therefore no surprise that furnaces have been found in areas of more general and mixed industrial production. Perhaps the best example of this can be seen just beyond the confines of the fort at Mancetter, in Warwickshire. A glass furnace dating to the second half of the second century, with associated working waste, was found to be operating among a group of pottery kilns. This pattern of mixed industrial quarters in close association to forts is mirrored at other sites across the Western Empire.

However, what is clear is that glassmaking was not being undertaken only at military sites. Indeed there is probably more evidence from Britain of glassmaking being practiced in civilian settlements, and more specifically in towns. The growing urban populations of the first- and second-century province were a clear market for any products. And the possibility of furnaces as close as possible to these populations inevitably reduced transportation costs and the possibility of accidental breakage through carriage. The main difference with urban-centered production was that it was less likely to have been undertaken by the army directly, although since many towns were closely associated with forts they still remained likely consumers.?

1.As the Roman Empire expanded throughout Europe, it brought profound changes to newly conquered lands. One of the later territories to be absorbed as a province was Britain, in the first century A.D. There, with the arrival of the Roman army and its-relatively speaking- very rapid advance north, a number of new, or at least improved, technologies were introduced. Although ceramics had been made in Britain for several millennia, new kiln (furnace) technology allowed far-better-quality vessels to be made.Furthermore, Iron Age Britain had developed a specialized and highly artistic metalworking industry; with Roman technologies came the ability to mass-produce items. Consequently, while iron Age communities had mastered many crafts and industries, what the Empire brought was the apparatus and the will to?exploit?these activities, with the initial impetus coming from the army.