Roman Towns and Buildings

1. Many towns grew around Roman forts.

2. Most Roman towns had walls around them with gates to let people in and out.

3. The Romans built well-organised towns, with straight streets and neat rows of buildings.

4. The buildings were usually made of brick, stone or concrete.

5. Roman towns were connected by roads, which were well-built and as straight as possible.

6. Roman towns had a forum, which was like a town square with important government buildings around it.

7. The forum was used as a meeting place, a place for business or a market.

8. The basilica was in the centre of the town and was like a town hall.

9. Rich Romans lived in town houses, built around courtyards, sometimes with gardens.

10. Poor Romans lived in one, or two-roomed apartments.

11. Roman shops opened onto the street with goods on sale being made in workshops behind.

12. Shopping malls could be found in large Roman towns, these were huge halls filled with shops.

13. Each hall was filled with shops selling one type of produce eg meat, clothing, fruit and vegetables.

14. As the towns got bigger aqueducts were built to supply them with fresh water.

15. Almost all Roman towns had public baths.

16. Most people liked to visit the baths each day, to keep clean, exercise and meet friends.

17. The Roman baths had hot and cold pools, steam rooms, saunas and exercise rooms.

18. Townsfolk liked to go to the amphitheatres to watch chariot races or fights between gladiators.

19. Amphitheatres were open, round or oval-shaped buildings with a central area for the entertainment.

20. Raised seats for thousands of people surrounded the central arena.

21. The three largest Roman towns in Britain were London, St Albans and Colchester.