Wroxeter Macellum

Macellum Viroconii

MarketBritannia · Wroxeter, EnglandBuilt 140 CE

Not standing in 117 CE

About

Wroxeter's covered market hall rose alongside the town's great public baths as part of a single building programme that ran from the 120s into the 160s, replacing a row of timber shops that had fronted Watling Street since around 90 CE. None of this masonry market existed in 117 CE; Trajan was still emperor when merchants here traded out of wooden stalls, not a stone-colonnaded hall. Archaeologists spent decades, from the 1950s into the 1980s, tracing its full courtyard plan.

What happened here

Trade is regulated and everyone is aware of it. Weights and measures are checked against the standards kept by the aediles, and short measure gets you fined and named. Stalls are arranged by trade, with the fish and meat kept to one side and downwind where the town has any choice. Prices swing with the shipping season and are shouted rather than displayed. Much of the meat on sale has come from a sacrifice, so the religious calendar shows up in the supply. Slaves buying for a household argue harder than their owners would. The upper floors, where there are any, are offices and storage let by the town for rent. It opens at dawn and the good produce is gone by mid-morning.