| Branodunum | |
|---|---|
| Norfolk, England, UK | |
 Aerial view of Branodunum | |
  Branodunum Location in Norfolk | |
| Coordinates | 52°57′50″N0°39′07″E / 52.9639°N 0.6519°E |
| Grid reference | TF7844 |
Branodunum was an ancient Roman fort to the east of the modern English village of Brancaster in Norfolk.
Branodunum is the Latinization of *Branodunon, a Celtic compound based on brano- "raven" and dunon "closed area, fortified enclosure, citadel, fort", then "hill, mount", hence the Welsh Din (in toponyms), and dinas "town", as well as the old Breton din "fortress" and din cat "combat fortress". [1] Bran is still the name for the raven in Brittonic languages such as Welsh, Cornish and Breton. Perfect homonymy with Branodunum in Gaul, today Brandon (Saône-et-Loire, France). [1]
The fort, built in the 230s, became later part of the Saxon Shore fortification system. It was built to guard the Wash approaches and is of a typical rectangular castrum layout. [2] According to the 4th-century document Notitia Dignitatum , the fort was garrisoned by the Equites Dalmatae Brandodunenses ("Dalmatian cavalry of Bran[d]odunum"), [3] although a tile found on the site stamped Cohors I Aquitanorum suggests that its original garrison was the "First cohort from Aquitania". [4] There is possible evidence (burials and grave goods) of later Anglo-Saxon use of the site. [5]
According to the National Trust information boards on the site, the fort is within a rectangular field to the east of the current village of Brancaster; there is no urban development on the fort's site itself. Urban residential development in the 1970s has covered much of the area to the west of the fort where part of the local 'vicus' (civilian settlement) was situated.
The site is bounded by the modern village of Brancaster to the west, and the A149 road to the south. The site is maintained by the National Trust. Free access is possible from the adjoining A149 road or the Norfolk Coast Path.
In Roman times, the fort's northern wall lay directly on the seashore, which served as a harbour. Since then, the shoreline has accreted, and the fort now lies inland of salt marshes. The fort was of a rectangular shape with rounded corners, with a 10 ft (3.0 m) wide wall with internal turrets at the corners and backed by an earthen rampart, which increased the wall's strength and gave easy access to the battlements. In front of the wall there was a V-shaped single ditch. [6] The wall thus enclosed an area of 2.56 ha. [7] In typical castrum fashion, the fort had four gates, one on each side. Evidence of the eastern and western gates and of flanking towers survives. Aerial survey has revealed the existence of several buildings in the fort's interior, including the principia . [7] A civilian settlement ( vicus ) existed on the eastern and northern sides [8] of the fort, which has been dated to the 2nd century AD. Its size would make it one of the largest settlements in the territory of the Iceni tribe. [5] Because the streets of the settlement are not aligned with the layout of the fort, it has been hypothesised that an earlier fort, built of timber, existed at the site, possibly from as early as the revolt of Queen Boudica in the mid-1st century AD. [5]
The walls still stood up to 12 feet (3.7 metres) tall in the 17th century, but robbing of materials during following centuries means that only the site and earthworks remain. [9]
The site provided the subject of an episode of series 20 of archaeological television programme Time Team , first broadcast in January 2013. Time Team made new discoveries which extend the knowledge base beyond that described above. In 2018 archaeological geophysicist John Gater returned to the site with Sumo Survey Services, and was able to confirm the outline of the fort and the layout of interior features like barrack rooms and major buildings. [10]
The Count of the Saxon Shore for Britain was the head of the Saxon Shore military command of the later Roman Empire.
Dux Britanniarum was a military post in Roman Britain, probably created by Emperor Diocletian or Constantine I during the late third or early fourth century. The Dux (literally, " leader" was a senior officer in the late Roman army of the West in Britain. It is listed in the Notitia Dignitatum as being one of the three commands in Britain, along with the Comes Britanniarum and Count of the Saxon Shore.
Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or less continuous settlement along the A149 at the edge of the Brancaster Manor marshland and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve. The villages are located about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Burnham Market, 22 miles (35 km) north of the town of King's Lynn and 31 miles (50 km) north-west of the city of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of 8.27 square miles (21.4 km2) and in the 2011 census had a population of 797 in 406 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. In 2016, Janet Lake, the clerk to Brancaster Parish Council, reached 50 years of service in the post.
Pevensey Castle is a medieval castle and former Roman Saxon Shore fort at Pevensey in the English county of East Sussex. The site is a scheduled monument in the care of English Heritage and is open to visitors. Built around 290 AD and known to the Romans as Anderitum, the fort appears to have been the base for a fleet called the Classis Anderidaensis. The reasons for its construction are unclear; long thought to have been part of a Roman defensive system to guard the British and Gallic coasts against Saxon pirates, it has more recently been suggested that Anderitum and the other Saxon Shore forts were built by a usurper in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent Rome from reimposing its control over Britain.
The A149 is commonly known as "The Coast Road" to local residents and tourists, as this road runs along the North Norfolk coast from King's Lynn to Great Yarmouth, via coastal villages.
Gariannonum, or Gariannum, was a Roman Saxon Shore fort in Norfolk, England. The Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman Army "order of battle" from about AD 400, lists nine forts of the Saxon Shore in south and east England, among which one was called Gariannonor. It has been much discussed over the years in terms of spelling, purpose, and location. The fort is listed as being commanded by the Praepositus equitum stablesianorum, implying its garrison was a cavalry of a form originated in the late 3rd century, the Equites Stablesiani. Both proposed sites show archaeological evidence for military occupation beginning at around the time this type of unit began use.
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.
Anderitum was a Saxon Shore fort in the Roman province of Britannia. The ruins adjoin the west end of the village of Pevensey in East Sussex, England. The fort was built in the 290s and was abandoned after it was sacked in 471. It was re-inhabited by Saxons and in the 11th century the Normans built a castle within the east end of the fort.
Halmyris was a Roman and Byzantine fort, settlement and naval port, located 2.5 km east of the village of Murighiol at the mouth of the Danube Delta in Romania. Its name in Roman times was probably Almyridensium.
The Saxon Shore was a military command of the Late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Saxon Shore". In the late 4th century, his functions were limited to Britain, while the fortifications in Gaul were established as separate commands. Several well-preserved Saxon Shore forts survive in east and south-east England.
Regulbium was the name of an ancient Roman fort of the Saxon Shore in the vicinity of the modern English resort of Reculver in Kent. Its name derives from the local Brythonic language, meaning "great headland" (*Rogulbion).
Portus Lemanis, also known as Lemanae, was the Latin name of a Roman Saxon Shore fort, settlement and port in southern Kent. The modern village of Lympne derives its name from the ancient port. The site, known locally as Stutfall Castle, is on private land which is accessible by public footpath.
Othona or Othonae was the name of an ancient Roman fort of the Saxon Shore at the sea's edge near the modern village of Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, England. The Old English name Ythanceaster for the locality derives from the Roman name.
Cnobheresburg was a castrum in East Anglia, where in about 630 the first Irish monastery in southern England was founded by Saint Fursey, as part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission described by Bede.
Capidava was originally an important Geto-Dacian centre on the right bank of the Danube. After the Roman conquest, it became a civil and military centre in the province of Moesia Inferior and part of the defensive frontier system of the Moesian Limes along the Danube.
Burgh Castle is the site of one of nine Roman Saxon Shore forts constructed in England around the 3rd century AD, to hold troops as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain. It is located on the summit of ground sloping steeply towards the estuary of the River Waveney, in the civil parish of Burgh Castle, in the county of Norfolk.
The North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is an area of European importance for wildlife in Norfolk, England. It comprises 7,700 ha (19,027 acres) of the county's north coast from just west of Holme-next-the-Sea to Kelling, and is additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) listings; it is also part of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The North Norfolk Coast is also designated as a wetland of international importance on the Ramsar list and most of it is a Biosphere Reserve.
Derventio, sometimes described as Derventio Brigantium in order to distinguish it from other places called Derventio, was a Roman fort and settlement located beneath the modern town of Malton in North Yorkshire, England. The fort is 18 miles north-east of Eboracum on the River Derwent.
Petavonium was a Roman Legionary Fortress (castrum) of the Legio X Gemina, and later a Roman city formed from the canabae, or civilian camp. It was located in the valley of Vidriales in an area of the modern Santibanez de Vidriales and its hamlet Rosinos de Vidriales, in the province of Zamora.
Lancaster Roman Fort, also known as Wery Wall or Galacum, is the modern name given to ruined former Roman fort atop Castle Hill in Lancaster in North West England. The first castra was founded c. 80 AD within the Roman province of Britannia.
