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Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs is a Roman legionary fortress located in Wales, now protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference MM248. Established in the late first century AD, this fortress once accommodated a full Roman legion of approximately 5,500 soldiers and formed part of the strategic military network controlling post-conquest Britain. The site rests upon Lower Devonian bedrock comprising mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, which the Romans would have quarried locally for construction materials.
The fortress at Caerleon represents one of the most important legionary bases in Roman Wales, with extensive surviving remains including defensive ditches, ramparts and internal structures. Its position on the River Usk provided crucial access for supply and communication, whilst the underlying geology offered both building stone and drainage advantages for the substantial garrison infrastructure. The fortress remained occupied throughout the Roman period and evidence of military occupation endures across the landscape.
Today, the scheduled monument encompasses archaeological deposits beneath what is now the garden of The Firs, containing in situ remains of Roman structures and occupation layers. The preservation of these buried deposits offers significant potential for future archaeological investigation and contributes to our understanding of Roman military life and territorial administration in Wales.
Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MM248. View the official record →
Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs is a Roman legionary fortress located in Wales, now protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference MM248.
Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs dates from the roman period, and is classified as a legionary fortress. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs 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 MM248.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Julian's Wood Camp (1.4 km), Newport Castle (3.6 km), St. Mary's Churchyard Cross, Llanwern (4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs'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.
Caerleon Legionary Fortress: Former Garden of The Firs stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.