Excavations in Syon Park, Brentford, have made a substantial
contribution to our knowledge of this Roman rural settlement on the
London-Silchester road, by a ford across the Thames. The site yielded a
well-dated sequence - from the mid 1st to early 5th century AD -
including occupation deposits and two 2nd-century timber buildings
destroyed by fire, as well as details of the main road and adjacent
field system. These and a large assemblage of finds, including a
surgical instrument and a roundel depicting the Medusa, provide a rare
glimpse of life in the countryside in the hinterland of Londinium. A
detailed overview of Roman Brentford (the first to be published since
1978) is included.