William Stewart, 1st Earl of Blessington in 1769. In 1778 it was inherited jointly by Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci and Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford. In 1806 Baron Longford's daughter The Hon. Catherine Pakenham married Arthur Wellesley, who in 1814 was created Duke of Wellington. In 1821 Catherine's brother Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford was created Baron Silchester, but in 1828 he and John, 2nd Viscount de Vesci sold the manor of Silchester to the Duke. In the first decade of the 20th century Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington still owned the manor of Silchester. Church and chapel The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is just within the walls of the former Roman town, possibly on the site of a Roman temple. The building may contain some re-used Roman materials. The building dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. It has a north and south aisle, each of two bays. There is no chancel arch, and the chancel is longer than the nave. The wall of the south aisle was rebuilt in about 1325–50, incorporating an ogee-arched tomb recess containing the effigy of a lady wearing a wimple. Two new windows were added to the church in the 14th century, and two more including the Perpendicular Gothic east window of the chancel in the 15th century. The church has a Perpendicular Gothic rood screen. The pulpit was made early in the 18th century but its tester is dated 1639. There is also a carved memorial cartouche to the Irish peer Viscount Ikerrin (died 1712). The bell-turret has a ring of five bells. Four were cast by John Stares of Aldbourne, Wiltshire in 1744. The other was cast by William Taylor of Oxford in 1848. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel on Silchester Common. Iron Age and Roman town Calleva Atrebatum was an Iron Age oppidum and subsequently a town in the Roman province of Britannia and the civitas capital of the Atrebates tribe. Its ruins are beneath and to the west of the parish church, which is itself just within the town wall and about to the east of the modern village. The site covers an area of over within a polygonal earthwork. The earthworks and extensive ruined walls are still visible. The remains of the amphitheatre, added about AD 70–80 and situated outside the city walls, can also