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Magnis (Kenchester)
 Magnae, sometimes Magnae Dobunnorum[citation needed] (Latin for "The Greats of the Dobunni") to distinguish it from the Magnae of the Carvetii on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain,[1] was a Romano-British town and an important market centre for the British Dobunni tribe, located near modern-day Kenchester in Herefordshire, England. The town was shaped as an irregular hexagon, with a single main street along the line of the main Roman Road running east–west through the area, and an irregular pattern of side streets with tightly packed buildings leading off it.[2]  NameThe Roman town is securely identified with the "Magnis" which appears both in the Antonine Itinerary and Ravenna Cosmography.[3] The town is today sometimes referred to under the name "Magna".[4] However, the town was not a colonia, nor a tribal capital,[5] and Rivet and Smith derive the name from the Celtic word maen meaning 'stone' or 'rock'.[6] The name may apply to the hills visible to the north of Kenchester.[7] HistoryThe ruins of a Roman temple possibly associated with a high-status Roman villa, which may have connections to Magnae, lie inside the Weir Garden by the River Wye. There is an octagonal cistern filled by a spring, and a ruined buttress by the river. These are the highest standing Roman ruins in Herefordshire.[8][9] Earthen defences have been found dating from the 2nd century, with later stone defences being built by the 4th century and occupation likely to have continued into the 5th century.[10] In the Sub-Roman Period, the fort formed a citadel of the British kingdom of Pengwern. After Pengwern was overrun, the town was the base of the Mercian subkingdom of Magonsaete.[11] References
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