River Parrett is a 'pre-English river-name of obscure origin'. The River Parrett, the Bristol Channel and the Severn Estuary are believed to have been used for riverine bulk transportation of people and supplies in Somerset under Roman and later Anglo-Saxon and Norman occupation. Roman Somerset, which lasted for over 250 years until around the beginning of the 5th century, had various settlements, including Bath ("Aquae Sulis"), Ilchester ("Lindinis") and lead mines at Charterhouse; and four roads surrounding the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of two Roman ports on the Parrett. The port at Combwich, on the west bank, was ill-recorded before its
Nomen (Roman name) Nomen (Roman name) The nomen gentilicium, or "gentile name", designated a Roman citizen as a member of a gens. A gens, which may be translated as "race", "family", or "clan", constituted an extended Roman family, all of whom shared the same nomen, and claimed descent from a common ancestor. Particularly in the early Republic, the gens functioned as a state within the state, observing its own sacred rites, and establishing private laws, which were binding on its members, although not on the community as a whole. Although the other peoples of Italy also possessed nomina, the distinction between Romans and