Caersws Roman Forts

The Caersws Roman Forts were two forts in the Roman province of what was to become Britannia Superior. Their original Latin names are unknown, although they may have been called Mediomanum. Their remains lie beneath and adjacent to Caersws in the Welsh county of Powys.

Campaign camp

The first fort at Caersws was built in a bend of the River Severn at Llwyn-y-Brain, three quarters of a mile east of the present village. It is large for such a fort and may have been erected in the reign of either Claudius or Nero.

Auxiliary fort

About AD 78, the campaigning camp was replaced by a permanent square fort for Roman auxiliary troops as the conquest of Roman Wales was consolidated. It was smaller and built closer to the confluence of the Rivers Carno and Severn on the site of present-day Caersws. A bank and triple ditch enclosed 7.75 acres (3.18 hectares). The headquarters building of the surrounding fort walls were rebuilt in stone around 200. There was a military bath house and a civilian vicus. Occupation lasted into the early 4th century.

Name

Either or both of the forts may have been called "Mediomanum", a name which appears in the Ravenna Cosmography. The location fits the Caersws forts, although historians such as Rivet and Smith identify this entry with Mediolanum of Ptolemy and the Antonine Itinerary, further east.

References

*cite book | last = Rivet | first = A L F | coauthors = Smith, Colin | title = The Place-Names of Roman Britain | publisher = B T Batsford | date = 1979 | location = London
*cite web | last = White | first = Kevan W | title = Mediomanum?: Large Roman Fort & Minor Romano-British Settlement | work = Roman-Britain.org | date = 2006 | url = http://www.roman-britain.org/places/caersws.htm | accessdate = 2007-02-16

External links

* [http://www.roman-britain.org/places/caersws.htm Caersws Roman Forts on the Roman Britain website]
* [http://www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=21630&t=1 A gold coin from the Roman fort at Caersws on Gathering the Jewels]
* [http://www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=13369&t=1 An aerial photo of Caersws Roman site taken in 1995]