Carvoran
| Carvoran Latin: Magnae Carvetiorum | |
|
Northumberland | |
|---|---|
_Roman_Fort_-_north_boundary,_and_Corvoran_Roman_Army_Museum_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1374187.jpg)
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| Type: | Roman fort |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY665656 |
| Location: | 54°59’6"N, 2°31’28"W |
| History | |
| Information | |
Carvoran is the site of a Roman fortress in Northumberland known to the Romans as Magnae Carvetiorum ("The Greats of the Carvetii"), or just Magnae (or 'Magnis', depending on the case declension).
This was a frontier fort on Hadrian's Wall. Its ruins are now known as 'Carvoran Roman Fort' and are located to the east of Gilsland (on the Cumberland border). It is thought to have been sited with reference to the Stanegate Roman road, before the building of Hadrian's Wall, to which it is not physically attached. In fact the uallum ditch unusually goes north of the fort, separating it from the Wall.
The fort is now the site of the Roman Army Museum.
Name
The fort at Carvoran is generally identified with the "Magnis" which appears both in the Ravenna Cosmography and the Notitia Dignitatum.[1] Further evidence for the name comes from a fragmentary inscription (Roman Inscriptions of Britain 1825) apparently seen by William Hutchinson in 1766 but which is now lost, which referred to "numerus Magne<c>e(n)s(ium)" ("of the unit of Magn[...] ....").[2][3] The name could be a Latin nominative form Magni, or Magna,[4] and the fort is today sometimes referred to under the name "Magna".[2] The name is rather inappropriate for a relatively small fort,[5] and one suggestion is that it could ultimately derive from the British language word maen meaning 'stone' or 'rock'.[6][7]
Roman fort
Magnae was originally built to guard the junction of the Maiden Way with the Stanegate, the key supply route linking Coria (Corbridge) in the east to Luguualium (Carlisle) in the west. As such it predates Hadrian's Wall. Its ruins are located at Carvoran in the civil parish of Greenhead, Northumberland.
Magnae is one of 16 Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall; there are also 80 smaller milecastle forts and 158 turrets along its length. The Maiden Way ran south from Magnae to Bravoniacum (Kirkby Thore in Westmorland.
Archaeology
Artefacts recovered at Magnae include a 2-foot-long iron spearhead, found at a depth of 36 feet in a well, and the well-known modius, a bronze grain-measure.[8]
Roman Army Museum
Magnae is the location of the Roman Army Museum run by the Vindolanda Trust. Like the museum at Vindolanda, the Roman Army Museum was modernised and reopened in 2011. The museum illustrates frontier life on the northern edge of the Roman Empire. The museum displays genuine Roman artefacts including weapons and tools; life-size replicas; a 3D film showing Hadrian's Wall past and present, and a large timeline of Hadrian's Wall. There is a gallery devoted to the emperor Hadrian himself. A large gallery describes daily life in the Roman army as seen through the eyes of a team of eight auxiliary soldiers, complete with a film showing their activities. Notable exhibits include a rare surviving helmet crest.[9]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Carvoran) |
- "Magnis Carvetiorum" at Roman Britain Online
- "Hadrian's Wall: Carovoran Fort (Magna)" at North of the Tyne
References
- ↑ Frere, S. S. (1987). Tabvla Imperii Romani: Britannia Septentrionalis. Oxford University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0197260594.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Taylor, David (2000). The Forts on Hadrian's Wall: A Comparative Analysis of the Form and Construction of Some Buildings. Archeopress. p. 118. ISBN 1841710768.
- ↑ De la Bédoyère, Guy (1999). Companion to Roman Britain. Archeopress. p. 82. ISBN 0752414577.
- ↑ Bevan, James Oliver (1917). The towns of Roman Britain. Chapman & Hall.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1010991: Carvoran Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall and vallum
- ↑ McClure, Edmund. British place-names in their historical setting. E.S. Gorham. p. 331.
- ↑ Wilson, Roger John Anthony (2002). A guide to the Roman remains in Britain. Constable. ISBN 0094686807.
- ↑ John Collingwood Bruce, The Roman wall, 1853
- ↑ Birley, R. (2012). Vindolanda Guide: the home of Britain's finest treasures. Roman Army Museum Publications. pp. 2 and 43.
- Birley, Robin (1998). The fort at the rock: On Hadrian's Wall: Magna and Carvoran. Vindolanda Trust. ISBN 1873136560.
| Forts on Hadrian's Wall | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wall forts (west to east) |
Maia • Coggabata • Aballava • Uxelodunum • Camboglanna • Birdoswald (Banna) • Magnae • Aesica • Housesteads (Vercovicium) • Carrawburgh (Procolita) • Cilurnum • Onnum • Vindobala • Condercum • Pons Aelius • Segedunum | |
| Stanegate forts |
Luguualium • Brampton Old Church • Castle Hill Boothby • Nether Denton • Throp • Magnis • Haltwhistle Burn • Vindolanda • Newbrough • Corstopitum | |
| Outpost Forts |
Habitancum • Fanum Cocidi • Castra Exploratorum • Blatobulgium | |
| Cumberland coast forts (north to south) |
Bibra • Alauna • Burrow Walls • Gabrosentum | |