Clausentum Clausentum Clausentum was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. The site is believed to be located in Bitterne, which is now a suburb of Southampton. Antonine Itinerary VII documents the Roman settlement of "Clausentum" as being west of "Noviomagus Reginorum" (Chichester) and from "Venta Belgarum" (Winchester). In 1610, William Camden identified Southampton as being the site of "Clausentum" and described how at Bitterne he had seen "old broken walls, and trenches of an antient castle". Around 1770, John Speed claimed that "Clausentum" was in the area that is now known as Bitterne Manor. In 1792, the Richard
Venta Belgarum east. Excavations of the cemetery were carried out by British archaeologist Julian Richards in 1998, and again in 2013, as part of the BBC television "Meet the Ancestors" series. From the mid-4th century, new development at Venta halted. Houses fell into disrepair and the drainage system collapsed. The population concentrated itself in the higher and drier areas of the town. The defences were however strengthened and the cemeteries remained in use, notably with burials of males wearing so-called military-style mercenary belts. Historian David Nash Ford identifies the community as the ("Fort Venta") listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of