Charterhouse (Roman town)

Roman lead mines at Charterhouse, Somerset

Charterhouse was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset.

Its Latin name may have been Iscalis, but this is far from certain.[1] Based on inscriptions on a pig of Roman lead BRIT. EX. ARG. VEB, meaning "British (lead) from the VEB... lead-silver works", the Roman name has been reconstructed as Vebriacum (with Iscalis more plausibly placed at Cheddar).[2]

It is associated with the Iron Age hill fort, Charterhouse Camp. The Roman landscape has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[3]

  1. ^ Rivet, A. L. F.; Smith, Colin (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. London: B. T. Batsford.
  2. ^ Costen, Michael (1992). The Origins of Somerset. Origins of the Shire. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-7190-3675-5.
  3. ^ Firth, Hannah (2007). Mendip from the air. Taunton: South West Heritage Trust. ISBN 978-0-86183-390-0.