The forum was the main shopping centre. However as the town grew, more shops were needed away from the middle. These were built facing on to the street. At first they were made of wood, and were later rebuilt in stone if the town was rich and successful.

Since land nearest the street could be expensive, the shops were not very wide across, but extended back a long way. There were butchers, bakers, grocers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, barbers, booksellers, cloth sellers, oilsellers, and glass sellers.

You can see examples of glassware in the exhibition at the Norwich Castle Museum [external link].Workshops

Many shops were workshops too. The craftsmen would work there and live with his family in the same place. At Caistor St Edmund, one house had some workshops with a yard at the back where the owner made glass and worked metal. He might only have made window glass - cups and bottles usually came from Germany, Italy, or Syria.

Pottery kilns have also been found at Caistor. The Britons copied Roman pottery shapes and used a wheel which made a better shaped pot. Sometimes the pots were decorated with patterns or different coloured clay.

The potter would pipe it on, the way we add icing to a cake. It would then be baked in a kiln over a fire. No examples of decorated pottery have been found at Caistor.

Wool industry

Caistor probably had a very large wool industry: wool was prepared and sold here. Examples of samian ware pottery have also been found at Caistor and are on display at the Norwich Castle Museum [external link]. These had to be brought over from France and were very expensive. All the richer houses in the Roman Empire used this red glossy pottery - it was very popular.

Coins

The coins in the Boudica exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum [external link] are examples of the money used in Britain from the time of Boudica's rebellion to the end of the Roman Britain.

Some Roman coins reached the province through the merchants and settlers who came here; the sale of British goods in other provinces over the sea ; but the main mechanism of coin supply was large injections of money via soldiers and civil servants' pay (the people who governed Britain for the emperor).

Every coin had the emperor's head on it to prove it was genuine.

• The 'aureus' was a small gold coin (it was worth the most).
• The 'denarius' was the main coin and was made of silver.
  25 denarii = 1 aureus.
• The 'sestertius' was made of bronze.
  4 sesterrii = 1 denarius.
• The 'as' was made of copper.
  4 asses = 1 sestertius.

Value of coins

Like today, the value of coins would sometimes change; prices, especially at the end of the Empire, rose many times. The weight of the coins was reduced because precious metal was expensive. Copper coins became more common, and at first had just a thin plating of silver.

Using coins to send news from Italy

Coins were sometimes used to send news of important events to the more faraway parts of the empire, like Britain, or to celebrate these events. There were no newspapers, radio, or television, so the pictures and inscriptions on the coins would show people what the emperor and his family looked like.

In AD 43 (the year Britain was conquered) a coin was made ('minted') to show a picture of the Emperor Claudius wearing a wreath on his head made of laurel leaves (a sign of victory).

On the other side of the coin is a picture of the triumphal arch built in Rome to celebrate, with a statue of the emperor on horseback on top. 'DE BRITANN' told people the name of the place which had been conquered.

Keeping money safe

There were no banks in Roman Britain. Most ordinary people kept their money at home in big chests or boxes. When the Saxon invaders began to threaten Britain's peace and safety, many people buried their treasure in bags, large pots, or wood and metal boxes.

Many bronze, silver and gold coins have been found by people today because, centuries ago, the owners died, or their heirs forgot where the money was buried.