Ribchester Roman Fort

Ribchester Roman Fort Latin: Bremetennacum
Lancashire
Roman ruins in Ribchester
Type:	Roman fort
Location
Grid reference:	SD650350
Location:	53°48’37"N, 2°31’51"W
Village:	Ribchester
History
	Built 2nd Century
Information
Garrison:	Legio XX

Bremetennacum, or Bremetennacum Veteranorum, was a Roman fort on the site of the present day village of Ribchester in Lancashire. Variant names found for it include Bremetonnacum, Bremetenracum or Bresnetenacum.

The site is today a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The site guarded a crossing-point of the River Ribble. The first known Roman activity was the building of a timber fort, believed to have been constructed during the campaigns of Petillius Cerialis around AD 72/3. This was replaced by a stone fort in the 2nd century. For most of its existence the fort was garrisoned by Sarmatian auxiliaries, first stationed in Britain by Marcus Aurelius in 175. Before that it is suggested that the fort was garrisoned by the Ala II Asturum from Spain, but there is some uncertainty about this. Pottery evidence indicates that the fort was occupied for most of the 4th century until the end of the Roman period.

Layout

Plan of the principia at Ribchester Fort

A report on Roman remains at Ribchester was published in Roman Britain in 1914 (Haverfield, 1915):

In the spring of 1913 a small school-building was pulled down at Ribchester, and the Manchester Classical Association was able to resume its examination of the Principia (praetorium) of the Roman fort, above a part of which this building had stood. The work was carried out by Prof. W. B. Anderson, of Manchester University, and Mr. D. Atkinson, Research Fellow of Reading College, and, though limited in extent, was very successful. The first discovery of the Principia is due to Miss Greenall, who about 1905 was building a house close to the school and took care that certain remains found by her builders should be duly noted: excavations in 1906-07, however, left the size and extent of these remains somewhat uncertain and resulted in what we now know to be an incorrect plan. The work done last spring (1913) makes it plain (see illustration) that the Principia fronted — in normal fashion — the main street of the fort (gravel laid on cobbles) running from the north to the south gate. But, abnormally, the frontage was formed by a verandah or colonnade: the only parallel which I can quote is from Caersws, where excavations in 1909 revealed a similar verandah in front of the Principia. Next to the verandah stood the usual Outer Court with a colonnade round it and two wells in it (one is the usual provision): the colonnade seemed to have been twice rebuilt. Beyond that are fainter traces of the Inner Court which, however, lies mostly underneath a churchyard: the only fairly clear feature is a room (A on plan) which seems to have stood on the right side of the Inner Court, as at Chesters and Ambleside. Behind this, probably, stood the usual five office rooms. If we carry the Principia about twenty feet further back, which would be a full allowance for these rooms with their walling, the end of the whole structure will line with the ends of the granaries found some years ago. This, or something very like it, is what we should naturally expect. We then obtain a structure measuring 81 × 112 feet, the latter dimension including a verandah 8 feet wide. This again seems a reasonable result. Ribchester was a large fort, about 6 acres, garrisoned by cavalry; in a similar fort at Chesters, on Hadrian's Wall, the Principia measured 85 × 125 feet: in the 'North Camp' at Camelon, another fort of much the same size (nearly 6 acres), they measured 92 × 120 feet.

The most famous artefact discovered in Ribchester, and dating from the Roman period, is the Ribchester Helmet, an elaborate cavalry helmet. The helmet was discovered, part of the Ribchester Hoard, in the summer of 1796 by the son of Joseph Walton, a clogmaker. The boy found the items buried in a hollow, about 10 feet below the surface, on some waste land by the side of a road leading to St Wilfrid's Church in Ribchester, and near a river bed. In addition to the helmet, the hoard included a number of patera, pieces of a vase, a bust of Minerva, fragments of two basins, several plates and some other items that Townley thought had religious uses. The finds were thought to have survived so well because they were covered in sand. The hoard was thought to have been stored in a wooden box and consisted of the corroded remains of a number of items but the largest was this helmet. The hoard was sold to the British Museum by the cousin of Charles Towneley.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ribchester Roman Fort)

• Vindolanda Tablets mentioning Ribchester Vindolanda Tablets Online
• Ribchester Museum
• Bremetenacum Veteranorum, Roman Britain
• Pictures:
  • The Ribchester Hoard – The British Museum

References

National Heritage List 1005110: Ribchester Roman Fort

• Buxton, K. and Howard-Davis, C. (2000) Bremetenacum: excavations at Roman Ribchester 1980, 1989-1990, Lancaster imprints, no. 9, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, ISBN 1-86220-083-1
• Haverfield, F. (1915) Roman Britain in 1914, British Academy supplemental papers III, Oxford University Press, (Online Text, Project Gutenburg)
• Smith, T. C. and Shortt, J (1890) The history of the parish of Ribchester, in the county of Lancaster, London: Bemrose & sons, 283p
• Edwards, B.J.N. (2000) The Romans in Ribchester, Discovery and Excavation, Centre for North-West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster, ISBN 1-86220-085-8
• Shotter, David (1997) "Romans and Britons in North-West England", Centre for North-West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster, ISBN 1-86220-029-7