CIMRM 829 - PossibleMithraeum, Colchester, Britain

See also Relief fragment.

Vermaseren lists this as a Mithraeum, based on Hull's paper; but R. G. Collingwood considers that it is in fact a water tank. ¹

From An archaeological evaluation at the Central Clinic, High Street, Colchester, Essex May 2006. Prepared by Howard Brooks. This is Fig. 1 of the report, indicating the location of the monument.

Insula 15 (Fig 2) This insula lies due north of the clinic site, and coincides with most of the Hollytrees Meadow. Internal detail is quite well known. The principal building is the L-shaped structure which now lies under the east side of the children's playground (Fig 1 'Roman building'). This has been known since 1853 when it was first discovered by P M Duncan, who thought it was a bath-house because of its concrete floor and the water running through it. It was partly excavated in 1927 (Hull 1958², 107-113) and again in 1954 (Crummy 1980³, 271). Although there was no direct evidence in the form of inscription or statuary, Hull was in favour of interpreting it as a carcer (prison) because of its sunken floor and the slave chains found in it. However, he decided to interpret it as a building of ritual or religious use - a temple of the eastern god Mithras (ie a mithraeum). Nowadays, archaeologists are less confident on interpretative issues, and a more prosaic use for this building (a? waterworks) is now accepted. Oddly enough, the building is surrounded by a wall, double on its south and east sides, which would be more normal in a structure which had some special significance. A drain emerges from the building and runs along the road edge and north through Duncan's Gate (also discovered by P M Duncan), after which it drains into the Roman ditch outside the wall. It is still possible to peer down into the drain through two metal grilles, near the children's playground and near Duncan's Gate. From the 1920s excavations and a watching brief in 1984 (CAR 6, 368-73), we know that there were extensive buildings on the north and west sides of the insula, including a very interesting-looking small building immediately to the west of the old mithraeum (it now lies directly under the children's playground). It is not known if this was a temple or a shrine. With regard to the depth of surviving remains (below modern ground-level), the south wall of the mithraeum is only 20cm below modern ground-level, and the north south street separating Insulas 7/8 and Insulas 15/23 shows as a parch-mark in dry weather, indicating that it lies very close to the surface.

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