Burrium

Last updated

Invisible Square.svg
Mapscaleline.svg
200m
220yds
R
i
v
e
r
U
s
k
5
4
3
Map of modern-day Usk, showing the lines of the ramparts of the Roman Legionary Fortress of Burrium. Larger rectangle is the fortress of 55 AD. Brown dotted lines show the later (75 AD onwards) boundary of the smaller enclosure possibly used as a store and ironworks. [1]
Numerous sites within the fortress have had archaeological excavations, but the timber post-holes and other remains have given little on the functions of particular sites. The selection of grey dots are just some of those sites showing Legionary buildings from both phases of its use. [2]
1
Excavationas at Primary School site, with various buildings between two Roman streets, from early and late phases of the fortress.
2
Excavations of the Via Principalis, the main east-west road across the fortress
3
Excavated timber buildings of unknown functions.
4
1st century beam-slot and posthole/pit at Kings' Head
5
Excavation of timber structure and cobbled path or yard
segontium.jpg Segontium.JPG
segontium.jpg

Burrium was a legionary fortress in the Roman province of Britannia Superior or Roman Britain. Its remains today lie beneath the town of Usk in Monmouthshire, south east Wales.

The Romans founded the 48 acres (19 ha) fortress around AD 55, probably for the Legio XX Valeria Victrix (20th Legion) and perhaps an additional ala of 500 cavalrymen. [3] Earth and timber defences surrounded a number of legionary barracks. The fort was key to the conquest of the Silures, a tribe very resistant to the imposition of Roman rule in Roman Wales, but in AD 66, the legion was transferred to Viroconium Cornoviorum (at Wroxeter) and their base in Wales was largely abandoned. It was briefly replaced by a works depot for iron working. The surrounding vicus seems not to have developed into a small town, although it may have had an official mansio.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caerleon</span> Town and community in Newport, Wales

Caerleon is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Newport city centre, and 5.5 miles (9 km) southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, and an Iron Age hillfort. Close to the remains of Isca Augusta are the National Roman Legion Museum and the Roman Baths Museum. The town also has strong historical and literary associations: Geoffrey of Monmouth elevated the significance of Caerleon as a major centre of British history in his Historia Regum Britanniae, and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King (1859–1885) while staying in Caerleon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usk</span> Town in Monmouthshire, Wales

Usk is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Newport. It is located on the River Usk, which is spanned by an arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. Usk Castle, above the town, overlooks the ancient crossing point. It developed as a small market town, with some industry including the making of Japanware, and with a notable prison built in 1841–42. In recent years Usk has become known for its history of success in Britain in Bloom competitions, winning the "Wales in Bloom" competition for 35 times in a row between 1982 and 2016. The resident population of the town in 2011 was 2,834, decreasing to roughly 2,600 in 2021. 6.8% of the population are recorded as being able to speak Welsh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legio XX Valeria Victrix</span> Roman legion

Legio XX Valeria Victrix, in English Twentieth Victorious Valeria Legion, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wroxeter</span> Village in Shropshire, England

Wroxeter is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, in the Shropshire district, in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is beside the River Severn, 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Shrewsbury. In 1961 the parish had a population of 657.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inchtuthil</span>

Inchtuthil is the site of a Roman legionary fortress situated on a natural platform overlooking the north bank of the River Tay southwest of Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eboracum</span> Ancient Roman city in present-day York, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hod Hill</span> Hillfort in Dorset, England

Hod Hill is a large hill fort in the Blackmore Vale, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Blandford Forum, Dorset, England. The fort sits on a 143 m (469 ft) chalk hill of the same name that lies between the adjacent Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase. The hill fort at Hambledon Hill is just to the north. The name probably comes from Old English "hod", meaning a shelter, though "hod" could also mean "hood", referring to the shape of the hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novae (fortress)</span> Roman legionary fortresses in northern Bulgaria

Novae was initially one of the few great Roman legionary fortresses along the empire's border, forming part of the defences along the Danube in northern Bulgaria. The settlement later expanded into a town in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior, later Moesia Secunda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isca Dumnoniorum</span> Roman legionary fortress in Devon, England

Isca Dumnoniorum, also known simply as Isca, was originally a Roman legionary fortress for the Second Augustan Legion in the Roman province of Britannia at the site of present-day Exeter in Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glevum</span> Roman fort, predecessor to Gloucester, UK

Glevum was originally a Roman fort in Roman Britain that became a "colonia" of retired legionaries in AD 97. Today, it is known as Gloucester, in the English county of Gloucestershire. The name Glevum is taken by many present-day businesses in the area and also by the 26-mile Glevum Way, a long-distance footpath or recreational walk encircling modern Gloucester.

Alchester is the site of an ancient Roman town. The site is not included in any ancient references; hence, the Roman name is not known. However, Eilert Ekwall contended that it appears as Alavna in the Ravenna Cosmography, with the addition of the Old English ceaster to signify a Roman fort. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) south of Bicester, in the northwest corner of the civil parish of Wendlebury in the English county of Oxfordshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindum Colonia</span> Settlement founded by ancient Romans in eastern England

Lindum Colonia was the Roman settlement which is now the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. It was founded as a Roman Legionary Fortress during the reign of the Emperor Nero or possibly later. Evidence from Roman tombstones suggests that Lincoln was first garrisoned by the Ninth Legion Hispana, which probably moved from Lincoln to found the fortress at York around c. 71 AD. Lindum was then garrisoned by the Second Legion Adiutrix, which then went on to Chester in 77–78 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blestium</span>

Blestium was a small fort and iron working centre in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, part of Roman Britain. It has been identified with the site of the later town of Monmouth in south east Wales, located adjoining the confluence of the River Monnow with the River Wye. A plaque on the local bank records its position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deva Victrix</span> Roman fort, Mid 70s AD

Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. The fortress was built by the Legio II Adiutrix in the 70s AD as the Roman army advanced north against the Brigantes, and rebuilt completely over the next few decades by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix. In the early 3rd century the fortress was again rebuilt. The legion probably remained at the fortress until the late 4th or early 5th century, upon which it fell into disuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isca Augusta</span> Former Roman site in Caerleon, Wales

Isca, variously specified as Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or vicus, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban town of Caerleon in the north of the city of Newport in South Wales. The site includes Caerleon Amphitheatre and is protected by Cadw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Roman Legion Museum</span> Archaeological museum in Newport, Wales

The National Roman Legion Museum (Wales) is a museum in Caerleon, near Newport, south-east Wales. It is one of three Roman sites in Caerleon, along with the Baths museum and the open-air ruins of the amphitheatre and barracks. It is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gobannium</span>

Gobannium was a Roman fort and civil settlement or Castra established by the Roman legions invading what was to become Roman Wales and lies today under the market town of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire in south east Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths</span> Archaeological museum in Newport, Wales

Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths encompass the archaeological ruins and sites of the Legionary Fortress of Isca Augusta spread across the town of Caerleon, near the city of Newport, South Wales. Notable for being one of only three permanent legionary fortresses from Roman Britain, Caerleon has provided a unique opportunity to study the archaeology of a Roman Legionary fortress, less affected by the medieval and subsequent urban activity of most such fortresses. Having attracted the attention of eminent archaeologists throughout the 20th century it now has four major public archaeological venues, including the museum run by Cadw, called 'Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths', featuring the excavated fortress bath-house. Also open to the public is the most complete excavated amphitheatre in Britain, a series of barracks and the National Roman Legion Museum. The fortress and its surrounding civil settlement have been the subject of continuing major archaeological investigations into the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mynde (Caerleon)</span> Historic site and property in the former Roman fortress of Caerleon, South Wales

The Mynde is a historic site and property located in Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city of Newport. The town is the historic site of the Isca Augusta Roman Fortress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legionary denarii (Mark Antony)</span>

Legionary denarii is the modern name for a series of Roman silver denarius coins issued by Mark Antony in the eastern Mediterranean during the last war of the Roman Republic from 32 to 31 BC, in the lead up to the Battle of Actium. The coinage is also referred to by numismatists as RRC 544/1-39, after its designation in M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1975).

References

  1. "Roman Usk (After WH Manning)". Usk Civic Society. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  2. Roman Fortress, Usk (Burrium) (ID PRN01998g) in the 'SMR' for Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT)
  3. "Roman fortress discovered underneath town centre". museum.wales. Retrieved 28 July 2021.

51°42′07″N2°54′11″W / 51.702°N 2.903°W / 51.702; -2.903