Part of a Roman building was encountered when the foundations for the chancel of the new parish church were dug in 1853 (see NPRN 13180). This appeared to be a circular stone-walled structure some 7.3m across. The floor was of brick stamped with the legend 'LEG II AVG' resting on a 0.45m bed of concrete on a base of flagstones bonded into the walls. This is likely to have been the base of a pool, probably part of a bathhouse. It may have been associated with the legionary settlement at Caerleon, and it is also possible that it was associated with the exploitation of nearby iron and lead deposits, though no mine sites of Roman date have been identified. No trace of the structure can now be seen and its relationship with the spring, or holywell is uncertain. Some Roman building material is incorporated into the fabric of the church.

In 1983 limited excavation outside the chancel recorded an area of gravel metalling, deeply buried by hillwash, on the north side. No Roman structural features were encountered and, if any remains of the 1853 structure survive, it is thought that they are wholly overlain by the chancel. Unstratified finds included flue-tiles and a stamped brick or tile (as above). These are thought to date to the second century AD.

Source: Wakeman in Archaeologia Cambrensis 3rd series (1855), 209-10
Dallimore in the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 28 (1980), 479-80, 495
Zienkiewicz in Archaeology in Wales 23 (1983), 49

John Wiles, RCAHMW, 13 February 2008.