Magiovinium

Watling Street crosses the River Ouzel close to Dobbies Garden Centre and the Bletchley Rugby Club (Manor Fields). Along the Roman road was a small town with buildings, (possibly some were shops) and a cemetery outside the defences of a bank and ditch. This is on a spur of land which gently slopes down to the Ouzel.

There have been a number of small excavations - starting in 1911 by Bradbook and Berry. In 1964 there were excavations of a bathing station, and a number in the 1970s to 1990s associated with the roadbuilding in the area.

(see for example the reports on the Little Brickhill by-pass, 1989-90 (link here) or the excavations that preceded the construction of the garden centre (link here))

A Roman coin manufacturing site was discovered in 1990, beneath the line of Galley Lane (the A4146), adjacent to a mid first century fort. Those coins are now on show in Room 49 (Roman Britain) in the British Museum. Two separate groups of coins were found, one set were fourth-century bronzes and the other were second century denarii.

The fort, a double-ditched rectangular enclosure, is likely to have build during the reign of Nero, and abandoned within 30 years. It is situated in the field which is bordered by Watling Street and Galley Lane (A4146)