Aballava | |
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Cumbria, England | |
Location in the City of Carlisle district, Cumbria Location in Cumbria, England | |
Coordinates | 54°55′19″N3°03′00″W / 54.922°N 3.050°W |
Grid reference | NY327591 |
Aballava or Aballaba (with the modern name of Burgh by Sands) was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Petriana (Stanwix) to the east and Coggabata (Drumburgh) to the west. It is about one and a half miles south of the Solway Firth, and its purpose was to guard the south end of two important Solway fords, the Peat Wath and the Sandwath, which were also to become favourite routes for medieval border raiders.
The name 'Aballava' probably comes from the British Celtic for '(apple) orchard'. [1] The fort is five and a half miles west of Stanwix. The fort was an oblong, straddling the Wall, and measured 500 feet (150 m) north to south by 400 feet (120 m) east to west, occupying an area of 5 acres (20,000 m2). Only the location of the eastern wall is known for certain. It is believed that it was built over the site of turret 71b. There is a fortified border church on the site built almost entirely of Roman stones, and it is believed that this stands on the site of the principia of the fort.
There was a vicus to the south-west of the fort, and it is believed that a cemetery existed to the south of the fort.
The second-century garrison was the Ala I Tungrorum [2] followed by a part mounted cavalry regiment, Cohors I Nerviorum. [3] The third-century garrison was a mounted detachment (cuneus) of Frisians. The epigraphic evidence for the location of this unit is attested by two sandstone altars [4] [5] found in the 19th century at Cockermouth Castle in Cumbria. These most probably came originally from the nearby Roman fort at Papcastle (Derventio). Some confusion had previously arisen among Romano-British historians concerning the precise location of Aballava and its identification with Papcastle. It has now been recognized that the Roman fort at Burgh by Sands is the correct location. [6] The unit, (Cuneus Frisiorum) apparently remained there long enough to acquire the title, 'Aballavensium'. [5] In the mid third century an infantry detachment (numerus) of Aurelian Moors (Morocco) is also attested. [7]
Excavations were carried out in 1922, during which it was established that the fort straddled the Wall. Two other forts were found on the same site, by aerial photography, in 1976 and 1977. The second fort, discovered in 1976, and excavated 13 years earlier, is thought to pre-date Hadrian's Wall. It has been claimed that this fort was an extension to the Stanegate system of forts, but this is largely conjecture.
A small-scale excavation 200 metres south of the fort undertaken by Headland Archaeology [8] uncovered a group of features associated with the vicus. Features included post-pits for a substantial building, postholes and beamslots relating to other timber buildings and shallow ditches and gullies; all dated to the mid-2nd century. There was no evidence for the later 2nd and 3rd century occupation identified during the previous investigations, suggesting some discontinuity in the use of the site.
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In ancient Celtic polytheism, Latis is the name of two Celtic deities worshipped in Roman Britain. One is a goddess, the other a god, and they are both known from a single inscription each.
Burgh by Sands is a village and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England, situated near the Solway Firth. The parish includes the village of Burgh by Sands along with Longburgh, Dykesfield, Boustead Hill, Moorhouse and Thurstonfield. It is notable as the site of the first recorded North African (Mauri) military unit in Roman Britain, garrisoning the frontier fort of Aballava on Hadrian's Wall in the 3rd century AD. It is also where Edward I of England died in 1307.
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Alauna was a castrum or fort in the Roman province of Britannia. It occupied a coastal site just north of the town of Maryport in the English county of Cumbria.
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Vinovia or Vinovium was a Roman fort and settlement situated just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the town of Bishop Auckland on the banks of the River Wear in County Durham, England. The fort was the site of a hamlet until the late Middle Ages, but the modern-day village of Binchester is about 2 miles (3 km) to the east, near Spennymoor. The ruins are now known as the Binchester Roman Fort.
Uxelodunum was a Roman fort with associated civilian settlement (vicus) in modern-day Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It was the largest fort on Hadrian's Wall and is now buried beneath the suburb of Stanwix.
The Rudge Cup is a small enamelled bronze cup found in 1725 at Rudge, near Froxfield, in Wiltshire, England. The cup was found down a well on the site of a Roman villa. It is important in that it lists five of the forts on the western section of Hadrian's Wall, thus aiding scholars in identifying the forts correctly. The information on the cup has been compared with the two major sources of information regarding forts on the Wall, the Notitia Dignitatum and the Ravenna Cosmography.
Coggabata, or Congavata / Concavata, was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Aballava to the east and Mais (Bowness-on-Solway) to the west. It was built on a hill commanding views over the flatter land to the east and west and to the shore of the Solway Firth to the north. Its purpose was to guard the southern end of two important Solway fords, the Stonewath and the Sandwath.
Maia, or Mais, in Cumbria, England was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, and was the last fort at the western end of the Wall, overlooking the Solway Firth.
Hadrian's Wall is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front of it and behind it that crossed the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.
Milecastle 72 (Fauld Farm) was one of a series of Milecastles or small fortlets built at intervals of approximately one Roman mile along Hadrian's Wall (grid reference NY32415913).
Milecastle 70 (Braelees) was one of a series of Milecastles or small fortlets built at intervals of approximately one Roman mile along Hadrian's Wall (grid reference NY35155898).
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