Biddenham 
Roman Well Shaft

Places > Biddenham > Archaeology

In 1857 a stone lined well was discovered during gravel digging.  The well was 40ft deep and contained pottery, animal bones, fragments of a sculpture and a human skeleton.

The original excavator thought that the well was a 'sepulchre' (tomb) and it has also been interpreted as a 'ritual shaft'. Either of these explanations are possible, although it need not be anything more than an ordinary well associated with a settlement.  Disposing of human remains within a well shaft is not unusual for this period of Roman history.

Sources:

• On the well at Biddenham, Beds.  Paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Bedfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, Nov. 10th, 1857.  By the Rev. W. Monkhouse B.D., Vicar of Goldington and Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford
• Survey of Bedfordshire, the Roman period by Angela Simco

Page last updated: 23rd January 2014