The rectangular enclosure that defined this Roman fort was built in the 70s AD as part of the campaign to integrate southern Wales into the Roman province of Britannia Superior. It lay on a key road, now known as the Sarn Helen (RR69), from the legionary fortress of Isca Augusta (Caerleon) that ran north west across Wales to Bremia and on to North Wales. It also sat on a road (the Via Julia Montana, or RR623) running from Moridunum (Carmarthen) across to eastern Wales at Castell Collen (Llandrindod Wells). It thus held an important crossroads along with a bridging point over the River Towy, and the town that grew up near the fort retained its significance and became Llandovery.
The name Alabum is known from a 7th-century list of places known as the Ravenna Cosmography and is identified as this particular fort from the arrangement of the named places along the Roman road network.
The western side of the site has some well preserved scarped banks although much of the fort has been built-over or otherwise obscured. Early documentation of the site was made in 1873, where it was suggested it could be the location for 'Loventinum', a place name recorded by Ptolemy for which Pumsaint has subsequently been the preferred location. The Llandovery fort was noted on the First Series Ordnance Survey map of 1888. In 1949 the Llandovery site was identified as a good fit for the place-name of Alabum. On 11 April 1961 it was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Ref. CM188), giving the site statutory protection from damage.
The enclosure is 170 metres (560 ft) by 120 metres (390 ft) and at some point was reduced in size. The presence of some earlier ceramics and evidence from stratigraphy hints at a possible earlier (50s AD) beginning to the fort. It is located within the former parish of Llanfair-ar-y-bryn and is within the community of Llandovery in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire. The road now known as Llanfair Hill runs through the site of the fort enclosure, and may well be on the line of one of the Roman streets. St Mary's Church, a 12th-century building on the site of an earlier monastic cell, also stands within the fort enclosure.
The 5.25 acres (2.12 ha) fort was probably built in the 1st century with an enclosing rampart and double ditch. A quadruple ditch was dug on the north-east side to protect the flat terrain in that direction. A stone revetment was later added. A military bath house lay between the fort and the River Bran. The chain of military forts across southern Wales appear to have been active between the 70s to 120s AD, although there is some evidence of the site still being occupied into the 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The rectangular enclosure that defined this Roman fort was built in the 70s AD as part of the campaign to integrate southern Wales into the Roman province of Britannia Superior. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Alabum is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Unnamed aqueduct(s) at Dolaucothi, Wales (11.7 km), Gold Mines at Dolaucothi, Wales (11.7 km), Pumsaint Roman Fort (ancient Louentinon?) (12.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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