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Not far from the famous Gloucester services on the M5, archaeologists have uncovered a Roman version – known as a mutatio, or a horse changing station

Located just a few miles away from Gloucester Services, the 2000 year old Roman site would have been used by travellers making their way along the Roman road that linked Gloucester to Hampshire.

The site, which is being excavated to make way for a new link road has, been part of an ongoing project for the past two years, with up to 70 archaeologists working on the almost 8 hectares site.  The team have so far uncovered quarry pits used in the construction of Ermin Street, as well as over 400 Roman coins, 15 brooches, 420kg of pottery and animal bone, as well as a shoe, hair pins and a ring. The most exciting find at the site however is a copper alloy statue of Cupid, which stands at around 2 inches tall and would have been quite valuable.

The mutatio is believed to have been a simple building, featuring a couple of rooms and is likely to have been first built in around AD 160.

Alex Thompson, the project manager, told reporters: “It’s quite a nice stopping point between Gloucester and Cirencester, about halfway after a tricky climb up the Cotswold escarpment out of the Severn Valley.

“The road itself would have been very busy. Cirencester was the second largest Roman settlement outside of London in Britain and Gloucester was a very important centre for the military.”

Most of the work is now finished, with a small team remaining in case other items of importance are found. All the finds will be displayed at local museums and the project features in Digging for Britain, which aired on 15th January on BBC2 and is available to watch on iPlayer.

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