Silchester Roman City Walls and Amphitheatre

Silchester preserves the outline of Calleva Atrebatum, a Roman town that grew from an Iron Age settlement and was abandoned without a modern town being built over it. Its surviving walls form a complete circuit, while the amphitheatre remains outside the defences. Information boards explain the town's layout and help make sense of a landscape where much of the archaeology is below ground. Reviewers particularly enjoy following the walls and seeing how their height and thickness change around the site. The official wall-side paths offer a countryside walk, but damaged paths around the amphitheatre should currently be avoided. Use the signed Roman Town car park on Wall Lane, since there is no parking at the amphitheatre itself. Wear footwear suited to mud and uneven ground. Dogs must stay on leads, particularly where the paths cross cattle-grazed land.