Verterae

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of the Roman earthworks that were integrated into the medieval castle

Verterae was a Roman fort in the present village of Brough in the English county of Cumbria . The fort, which was occupied from the 1st to the 5th centuries AD, protected an important Roman road in the north of England. In the 11th century, Brough Castle was built on part of the estate by the Normans . Archaeologists studied the remains of the Roman fortress in the 20th century. Today they are under monument protection.

Roman time

Verterae was believed to have been built by the Roman governor Gnaeus Iulius Agricola in AD 79 and 80 as part of a campaign to conquer the north of Britain. The Latin name means the fortresses in German . The facility served as a waypoint on the northern branch of Watling Street , which connected the Roman cities of Luguvalium and Eboracum - today the cities of Carlisle and York - as well as destinations further south. Verterae was one of a series of forts that were 19–22 km apart on the road, and protected the Stainmore Pass , which stretched from the Valley of Eden across the Pennines .

The rectangular fort was 1.2 acres and was built on the ridge above Swindale Beck . The size of the fort is not certain due to later work on the site, but it could have covered an area of ​​100 meters by 110 meters and was provided with a 15-meter-wide moat that was 6 meters deep in places. A settlement called Vicus and a cemetery were built on the east side of the fort. In Vicus there were both stone and wattle buildings .

Around the end of the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th century, an auxiliary force called the Numerus Directorum , about 300-400 men strong, was stationed in the fort.

The site is not far from Maiden Castle . Old local lexicons indicate that this castle gave its name to Maiden Way , the old Roman road from the nearby Bravonicum (Kirkby Thore) to Magnae Carvetiorum (Carvoran) on Hadrian's Wall .

Post-Roman times

Verterae stone inscriptions in St Michael's Church in Brough

The fort was occupied for a period after the Romans withdrew from Britain around 410, but was then abandoned. In the 11th century, a Norman castle was built in the ruins of Verterae. In the 16th century, the archaeologist William Camden rediscovered the connection between this site and the Roman occupation of Britain and postulated that this property, then called Brough Castle , was the old Roman Fort Verterae.

Waste from Roman times was discovered on the site in the mid-19th century and the government had archaeological digs carried out there in 1923. Further excavations followed in 1954, as well as in the 1970s and 1990s. In 1996 the entire property was measured. The site of the fort, which extends over the medieval Brough Castle, Brough Castle Farm and the surrounding lands, is under protection as a Scheduled Monument .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helen Noakes: An Archaeological Field Evaluation at Brough Castle, Church Brough, Cumbria . North Pennines Archeology, Alston 2008. p. 4. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  2. ^ Adrian Pettifer: English Castles: A Guide by Counties . Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-782-3 , pp. 266 (English, 384 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ A b Nicola Gaskill, Helen Noakes, Frances Woods: An Archaeological Watching Brief and Investigation at Brough Castle, Church Brough, Cumbria . North Pennines Archeology, Alston 2009. p. 4. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  4. a b c d e f g h List Entry . English Heritage. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  5. Maiden Castle Roman Fortlet . Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  6. ^ Martin Norgate: Old Cumbria Gazetteer: Maiden Way . Portsmouth University. 2014. Accessed July 21, 2015.
  7. ^ The Topographical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland . A. Fullarton & Co .. 1853. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

Coordinates: 54 ° 31 ′ 17 "  N , 2 ° 19 ′ 26"  W.