You can still see the city walls and the remains of the amphitheatre today. The result was that the place simply faded into obscurity, but at the same time leaving one of the best Roman archaeological sites in Britain. Unlike most Roman settlements after the departure of the Romans from Britain in 409 after 350 years of occupation, Silchester was not incorporated into a later settlement such as at London, York, Bath and Chester. Aside from the impressive buildings within the walls there was a full scale amphitheatre on the outside. Usually referred to as Silchester, this is a model of the place that you can see in the Reading museum which we will visit later in this post. Calleva Atrebatum was an Iron Age oppidum (Celtic settlement) that the Romans took over and remade into a major fortified city. While technically the settlement of Reading did not occur until the 8th century, there was a very important Roman site very close by. Most of the reasons for visiting Reading centre around its past which has played an outsized role in the history of England dating from pre-Roman times right up the 20th century. Here’s why it is definitely worth a visit. It turned out to be a great if somewhat serendipitous decision as Reading far exceeded our modest expectations. As luck would have it, the train schedule out of London to Bath went through Reading and as our stay in Bath wasn’t to start until the next day I thought ‘What the hell.’ and booked a hotel in Reading. They were headed back to Canada and we had four days by ourselves, three of which we would spend in Bath. We had just completed a magical week in London with our daughter Lenore and grandson Brock. It certainly wasn’t on mine as Alison and I prepared to spend a few days in Bath, a city that is definitely on the top 10 list. Reading is usually not even close to the top 10 cities to visit in the United Kingdom when most tourist’s prepare their itinerary for this great country.

The battle of reading gaol