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Abergavenny Roman Fort is a Roman auxiliary fort situated in South Wales, established to command the regional landscape and communications routes through the borderlands. The fort occupies bedrock of Lower Devonian age, comprising mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down in the Early Devonian period. This stable geological foundation provided suitable ground for Roman military construction and occupation.
The fort follows the standard playing-card plan characteristic of Roman auxiliary establishments, with defensive ditches and ramparts arranged to protect barrack blocks, administrative buildings and stores. Its positioning reflects the Roman strategic objective of controlling the Usk valley and the approach routes through south-eastern Wales. The local geology of hard, fine-grained sedimentary rocks would have been quarried and worked to supplement timber and turf in the fort's construction.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments authority, and preserves important evidence of Roman military administration in the Welsh frontier zone. Archaeological investigation has revealed the extent of occupation and the relationship between the fort and surrounding settlement activity, contributing significantly to understanding how Rome maintained control over this region of Britain during the imperial period.
Abergavenny Roman Fort is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MM193. View the official record →
Abergavenny Roman Fort is a Roman auxiliary fort situated in South Wales, established to command the regional landscape and communications routes through the borderlands. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference MM193.
Abergavenny Roman Fort dates from the roman period, and is classified as a fort. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Abergavenny Roman Fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is MM193.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St. Bartholomew's Churchyard Cross, Llanover (5 km), Llanvihangel Nigh Usk Churchyard Cross (6.7 km), Blaenafon Ironworks (6.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Abergavenny Roman Fort's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Abergavenny Roman Fort stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.