  Shown within England | |
| Alternative name | Caturactonium Cactabactonion |
|---|---|
| Location | Catterick, North Yorkshire, England |
| Region | Brittania |
| Coordinates | 54°23′3″N01°38′59″W / 54.38417°N 1.64972°W |
| Type | Fortification and settlement |
| Length | 135m |
| Width | 135m |
| Area | 1.8ha |
| History | |
| Builder | Quintus Petillius Cerialis |
| Founded | 71 |
| Periods | Roman Imperial |
Cataractonium was a fort and settlement in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into Catterick, located in North Yorkshire, England. [1]
Cataractonium likely took its name from the Latin word cataracta (ultimately derived from Greek cataràcta, καταρράκτης), meaning either "waterfall" or "portcullis". Some linguists have suggested that this was a misinterpretation of an original Brittonic placename meaning "[place of] battle ramparts". [2] [3] [4] [5] The name is attested as Cataractonium in two 2nd-century Vindolanda tablets. [7] The British section of the 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary mentions Catterick three times, but declines it variously as Cataractoni [8] and Cataractone, [9] [10] implying the scribe considered it a 3rd-declension name. It is spelled Caturactonium (Ancient Greek : Κατουρακτόνιον, Katouraktónion) in Ptolemy's Geography and misspelled Cactabactonion in the Ravenna Cosmography. The name was spelled Cetrecht, Cetrehtan, and Cetrettun by Bede in the 7th century and Catrice in the Domesday Book compiled around 1086. [11]
There is considerable evidence for pre-Roman activity in the environs of the eventual Roman settlement. [12] Evidence on both sides of the Swale suggests both Bronze Age and Iron Age activity. The Bronze Age remains take the form of a chambered cairn some 500 m south-east of Cataractonium, a ceramic vessel 200 m north and a bronze rapier 150 m north-east. [12] The cairn has associated domestic occupation which continues into the Iron Age in the form of a multi-period roundhouse. [12]
Though there is no definitive date for the building of the fort, it is likely to have been around AD 70 during the governorship of Q. Petillius Cerialis to support the campaign of Agricola in Scotland. It is also likely to have been in use during the Brigantes revolt in 155 under the governorship of Gn. Julius Verus. The first site appeared to be little more than a timber hill fort, but the later and bigger settlement was constructed in stone and had a civilian population too. [13]
No direct evidence exists of which military units may have been stationed at the fort, but it is likely that an auxiliary unit from Bremetenacum Veteranorum (Ribchester) would have been posted here. Tiles found nearby were stamped "BSAR". This would suggest that over the years of occupation, soldiers from the Ala II Asturum, Numerus Equitatum Sarmatarum and Cuneus Sarmatarum units were used as detachments for the fort. [14]
Among the artifacts excavated at the site was a theatrical mask, suggesting there may have been a theatre or small amphitheatre. [15]
In one of the large cemetery groups, a unique group of 'fist-and-phallus' pendants, dating to AD 160–200 were discovered in the grave of an infant. [16]
A 1995 project that mapped the site from the air, located at least sixteen identifiable buildings and the partial remains of several others. These were likely to have been shops.
Cataractonium was a crossroads where the road north from Eboracum (York) [17] and Isurium (Aldborough) [18] split into Dere Street running 12 Roman miles northeast to Vinovium (Binchester) [8] and the Roman equivalent of Watling Street running 16 [9] or 18 Roman miles [10] northwest to Lavatrae (Bowes). These roads communicated with and supplied Hadrian's and the Antonine Wall.
The fort was located to the south of the River Swale. The early fort was used as a marching camp for patrols in the area and as defence for the trunk road's bridgehead.
Little can be seen above ground as most of the area is now covered by Catterick Racecourse and the A1(M) road. The most visible is a section of wall. There was evidence of at least four altars of worship. They were dedicated respectively to
The 1995 aerial study of the area around Catterick identified several possible remains in and around the site of the Roman fort. On the north banks of the river are crop marks running parallel to the course of Dere Street that could be a wall. [19] The same survey also confirmed the existence of a temporary fort about a quarter of a mile east of the main camp. The north and east walls have been identified, but the west part of the camp now lies under the nearby racecourse. The north wall is about 540 feet (160 m) in length with a gate and traverse, whilst the east wall is about 850 feet (260 m) long. The walls are connected by a curved structure. [20] Some of the early excavations unearthed two carved stone lions, an aureus of Nero, two cruciform gilt Saxon fibulae and a very large bronze urn. The buildings that have been uncovered range from the second century to the third. There is evidence that the entire layout of the camp was altered in the fourth century. [21]
An excavation by Sir William Lawson around 1840 revealed the foundations to the walls of the fort. [22]
Excavations in 2014–2016, as part of a scheme of improvements on the A1 road, have recorded thousands of additional artifacts from the Roman town. [23]
Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It is noted for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets that were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.
There are many Roman sites in Great Britain that are open to the public. There are also many sites that do not require special access, including Roman roads, and sites that have not been uncovered.
Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main Roman roads in Britannia. The line of the road was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw with Wessex and Mercia, and Watling Street was numbered as one of the major highways of medieval England.
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (Londinium) to Lincoln and York (Eboracum). The Old English name was Earninga Strǣt (1012), named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire, and Royston, Hertfordshire. "Armingford", and "Arrington" share the same Old English origin. The original Celtic and Roman names for the route remain unknown. It is also known as the Old North Road from London to where it joins the A1 Great North Road near Godmanchester.
Roman roads in Britannia were initially designed for military use, created by the Roman army during the nearly four centuries (AD 43–410) that Britannia was a province of the Roman Empire.
Eboracum was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimately developed into the present-day city of York, in North Yorkshire, England.
Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument in east Dorset, England. It was in the territory of the Durotriges. In the Roman era a temple was located immediately west of the fort, and there was a Romano-British town known as Vindocladia a short distance to the south-west.
Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge and continuing beyond into what is now Scotland, later at least as far as the Antonine Wall. It was the Romans' major route for communications and supplies to the north and to Scotland. Portions of its route are still followed by modern roads, including the A1(M), the B6275 road through Piercebridge, where Dere Street crosses the River Tees, and the A68 north of Corbridge in Northumberland.
Bootham is a street in the city of York, England, leading north out of the city centre. It is also the name of the small district surrounding the street.
Bremenium is an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Rochester, Northumberland, England. The fort is part of the defensive system built along the extension of Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose. Significantly the fort is a long way north of Hadrian's Wall. It was one of the last forts north of Hadrian's wall to remain occupied until the 270s.
Magnis or Magna was a Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. Its ruins are now known as Carvoran Roman Fort and are located near Carvoran, Northumberland, in northern England. It was built on the Stanegate frontier and Roman road, linking Coria (Corbridge) in the east to Luguvalium (Carlisle) in the west, before the building of Hadrian's Wall.
Luguvalium was an ancient Roman city in northern Britain located within present-day Carlisle, Cumbria, and may have been the capital of the 4th-century province of Valentia. It was the northernmost city of the Roman Empire.
Pons Aelius, or Newcastle Roman Fort, was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, situated on the north bank of the River Tyne close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyne, and occupied between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.
Isurium or Isurium of the Brigantes was a Roman fort and town in the province of Britannia at the site of present-day Aldborough in North Yorkshire, England, in the United Kingdom. Its remains—the Aldborough Roman Site—are in the care of English Heritage.
Coria was a fort and town 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. It was strategically located on the junction of a major Roman north–south road with the River Tyne and the Roman Stanegate road, which was also the first frontier line which ran east–west between Coria and Luguvalium. Corbridge Roman Site is in the village of Corbridge in the county of Northumberland.
Vindomora was an auxiliary fort on Dere Street, in the province of Lower Britain. Its ruins, now known as Ebchester Roman Fort, are situated at Ebchester in the English county of Durham, to the north of Consett and 12 miles (19 km) west-south-west from Newcastle upon Tyne.
Concangis was an auxiliary castra in the Roman province of Lower Britain. Its ruins are located in Chester-le-Street, Durham, in England, and are now known as Chester-le-Street Roman Fort. It is situated 6 miles (10 km) north of Durham and 8 miles (13 km) south of Newcastle upon Tyne.
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.
Slack Roman Fort was a castellum near Outlane, to the west of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Its site is a scheduled monument. The ruins of the fort which lay alongside the Pennine section of the Roman road from Deva Victrix (Chester) to Eboracum (York) are no longer visible. The fort may have been the Cambodunum mentioned as a station on this route in the Antonine Itinerary.
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.