edgepedia

Roman forts, fortlets, and military sites

39 articles

‘Nido’

'Nido' (Nidum), Roman auxiliary fort and milestone at Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, attested in the Antonine Itinerary; Flavian foundation (c. AD 75–80), stone rebuild c. AD 120–5, scheduled monument GM215.

Arzbach

Arzbach is the site of a small Roman fort on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, occupied from the early 2nd to the mid-3rd century.

Barburgh Mill Roman fortlet

Barburgh Mill Roman fortlet: Antonine-period (c. 142-58) fortlet in Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, discovered by aerial photography in 1945 and fully excavated in 1971; 29.50 by 28.50 m, housing an infantry century, guarding a Roman road.

Biriciana

Biriciana (castrum Biriciana) is the Roman cavalry fort at Weißenburg, Bavaria, garrisoned by the ala I Hispanorum Auriana from about 90 AD, rebuilt in stone around 150 AD, destroyed around 253/254, with a reconstructed north gate and Roman baths.

Bowes Moor

Bowes Moor, County Durham: Pennine moorland on the Stainmore Pass with a Roman temporary camp (56 m across, dated 340-350 AD), an adjacent signal station, the Rey Cross marching camp, a Roman aqueduct, and the fort of Lavatrae.

Carnuntum

Carnuntum, Roman legionary fortress and civilian city on the Danube between Petronell and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, Austria; capital of Pannonia Superior, seat of Septimius Severus's proclamation (193) and the 308 Emperors' Conference.

Carrow Hill Roman fort

Carrow Hill Roman fort, Monmouthshire, Wales (NPRN 423337): a small pre-Flavian auxiliary fort near Caerwent, discovered as cropmarks in the 2018 drought; first auxiliary fort plan in the Vale of Gwent, with double ditches and annexe.

Castell Collen

Castell Collen is a Roman auxiliary fort near Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales, built in the AD 70s above the River Ithon and occupied until about AD 330.

Castra of Drobeta

Castra of Drobeta: Roman fort (123 x 137.50 m) at Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania, built 103-105 AD under Trajan to guard the northern end of Trajan's Bridge; phases Trajanic, Constantinian, Romano-Byzantine.

Cedonia

Cedonia (Cedoniae), a Roman fort and road station in Dacia on the Romula–Apulum road, attested in the Tabula Peutingeriana and Ravenna Cosmography, tentatively placed at Gușterița near Sibiu, Romania; distinct from the Italian town Lacedonia.

Clanville

Clanville (Hampshire) is a Romano-British villa site near Andover, excavated in 1897 by G. H. Engleheart; its 96 by 52 ft aisled basilican house, with mosaics, hypocausts, and window glass, was the chief building of its villa group.

Contra Aquincum

Contra Aquincum was a Roman bridgehead fort on the Pest bank of the Danube in Budapest, built in the late 2nd century and rebuilt under Diocletian.

Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Dacia

Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Dacia is a serial UNESCO World Heritage Site in Romania, inscribed in 2024, comprising 277 component parts of the Roman frontier (Dacian Limes).

Germanicum

Germanicum (Castra Germanicum), Roman ala fort at Kösching, Bavaria, on the Raetian Limes north of the Danube; founded spring AD 80, garrisoned by Ala I Flavia Gemelliana, abandoned around 242/243 after an Alemannic attack.

Haltwhistle Burn Roman Fortlet and Camp

Haltwhistle Burn Roman Fortlet and Camp: early 2nd-century Roman fortlet (c. AD 105) on the Stanegate road in Northumberland, guarding the burn crossing, with associated temporary camps, excavated 1907-8 by Gibson and Simpson, superseded by Hadrian's Wall.

Kabeirion

Kabeirion (Καβείριον): ancient mystery sanctuary of the Kabeiroi at Cape Chloi, Lemnos, near Hephaestia, in use from the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD, with Archaic, Hellenistic, and late Roman Telesteria and annual nine-day fire mysteries.

Karakuş Tumulus

Karakuş Tumulus (Karakuş Tümülüsü), first-century BC royal burial mound in Kâhta, Adıyaman, Turkey, built by Commagene king Mithridates II for royal women including his mother Isias; about 110 m wide, eagle column, damaged for Cendere Bridge.

Les Vaux de la Celle

Les Vaux de la Celle (Genainville, Val-d'Oise) is a Gallo-Roman sanctuary and theatre complex in a Vexin dell, with a double-cellae temple to Mercury and Rosmerta, an Iron Age necropolis, and excavations ongoing since 1935.

Milecastle 29 (Tower Tye)

Milecastle 29 (Tower Tye), a long-axis milecastle fortlet of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, survives as robber trenches beside the B6318; one of few with an external ditch, near turrets 29a Black Carts and 29b.

Milecastle 37 (Housesteads)

Milecastle 37 (Housesteads) is a Roman milecastle on Hadrian's Wall, immediately west of Housesteads fort on Housesteads Crags, Northumberland. A short-axis fortlet excavated in 1853, 1907, 1933 and 1988-89, with a blocked north gateway and 2.2 m standing walls.

Milecastle 44 (Allolee)

Milecastle 44 (Allolee) is a long-axis milecastle on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, 20.3 by 17 m, surviving as turf-covered banks, with unrecorded excavation and centurial stones RIB 1754-1760.

Milecastle 9 (Chapel House)

Milecastle 9 (Chapel House), a Roman milecastle on Hadrian's Wall east of Blucher, Newcastle upon Tyne; long-axis, Broad Wall, excavated by Eric Birley 1929, re-evaluated 1999-2000, scheduled monument.

Oberhochstatt

Oberhochstatt is the site of a small Roman fort of the Raetian Limes near Weißenburg in Bavaria, Germany, known mainly through aerial photography and magnetometry.

Optatiana

Optatiana: Roman auxiliary fort and vicus at Sutor, Sălaj County, Romania, in Dacia Porolissensis, on the Tabula Peutingeriana; garrisoned by the numerus Maurorum Optatianensium, a Moorish cavalry unit of about 500 men.

Parrodunum

Parrodunum: Roman fort and vicus at Burgheim, Bavaria, on the Danube frontier of Raetia; listed in the Notitia Dignitatum as garrison of the First Herculian Cohort; also known as Kastell Burgheim, with a debated Stätteberg identification.

Partizany

Partizany: a Crimean village (formerly Şeyh Eli) in Feodosia Raion, an ancient site with a Roman villa in Barrington Atlas 87 L2, and works by Krapiva, Adamovich, Roerich, and a 2026 TV series.

Petavonium

Petavonium, at Rosinos de Vidriales (Zamora, Spain), was a Roman legionary fortress of Legio X Gemina and later the auxiliary fort of the Ala II Flavia Hispanorum, with unaltered camps of 17.35 and 4.7 hectares.

Piazza d'Armi

Piazza d'Armi (arms square) is the Italian term for a military drill ground, also used for city districts and archaeological sites, above all the Etruscan citadel of Veii, occupied from the 9th to the early 5th century BC.

Piniana

Piniana (Piniana Castra), a late Roman fort in Raetia secunda on the Danube-Iller limes, usually identified with the Bürgle fort at Gundremmingen, Germany; small 28 × 65 m enclosure, built late 3rd century, destroyed 406/407.

Resculum

Resculum (Rucconium), the Roman auxiliary fort at Bologa, Cluj County, Romania; westernmost fort of Dacia Porolissensis, founded c. 106 AD under Trajan, garrisoned by cohors II Hispanorum, with earth-and-timber then stone phases and a Caracalla visit in 214 AD.