Decline
The importance of Isca as a trading centre is demonstrated by the more than a thousand Roman coins that have been found in the city. However, the dates of these coins suggest that the city was at its most prosperous in the first half of the fourth century and virtually no coins dated after AD 380 have been found, suggesting a rapid decline.
The forum and basilica were demolished around the middle of the 5th century when a cemetery, probably Christian, was established on the site. It continued in use into the Anglo-Saxon period when the town became known as 'Isca-Castra' or Exeter.
After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century there is no evidence of Exeter for almost 300 years, until around 680 when a document about St Boniface reports that he was educated at the Abbey in Exeter.
Read more about this topic: Isca Dumnoniorum
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