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Uley : Other Bulidings

Structures in the environs of the temple were generally built in the same materials. Their interiors were also typically floored with limestone cobbling and their walls plastered and painted. These structures were perhaps ancillary buildings for the shrine, as votive items were found in association with them but the limited finds from occupation layers also suggest a mixed domestic and craft use for these buildings. Perhaps they accommodated visitors or the farmers who lived in the West Hill settlement. Given the long life span of these buildings, they plausibly played different roles at different periods.

Structure I
This rectangular building was constructed contemporaneously with the temple and was extended and rebuilt several times until its demolition in the late fourth century. At its greatest extent it measured 27m long and at least 17m wide. With the exception of room K, a latrine with cess pit, the surviving occupation deposits and features do not indicate the function of specific rooms.

Structure IV
The partially excavated Structure IV, was, like building I extended and rebuilt many times until demolition in the mid-fifth century. Hearths were found in some rooms, but the few finds surviving in the occupation deposits did not indicate whether they served a domestic or craft function.

Structure X
Structure X, a three-sided building north of the temple, was only partly excavated. An aerial photograph suggests that its maximum dimensions were c. 38 x 23m. The massive stone walls perhaps supported a two storey building, perhaps with a porch or veranda fronting the west wing. On analogy with the courtyard building at Lydney (see Lydney History and Buildings), the structure may have served as a guesthouse.

Structure IX
Building X was demolished in the early fourth century and replaced by IX, initially a rectangular building 16 x 8m, later partly rebuilt with a further room added to the north-east corner. The interior of the principal room was divided into two parts, one of which contained the remains of several hearths and ovens and debris raked out from them during their use. This building in turn was demolished by the mid-fourth century.

Structure XIV
Over the demolished structure IX a timber framed rectangular building measuring 11 x 5m was constructed, the extent of which is indicated by a platform terraced into the remains of earlier buildings. Some evidence for metalworking was found in the occupation debris.


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