Broxtowe Roman fort was an early auxiliary fort on the western fringe of modern Nottingham, occupied from around AD 50 to the 70s during the initial Roman advance into the Midlands. It appears to have been a turf-and-timber installation of conventional auxiliary scale, likely garrisoning troops engaged in the suppression and consolidation of the territory of the Corieltauvi following the Claudian invasion.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort formed part of the early Roman military network in the East Midlands, complementing better-known sites such as Margidunum and the Trent valley posts, controlling routes across the middle Trent and providing a forward base before the frontier shifted northwards under Cerialis and Agricola. Its relatively short occupation is typical of the transient Neronian–early Flavian forts that were abandoned once the legionary base at Lincoln and later York rendered them redundant.
The site was identified through excavations in the 1930s by Felix Oswald, who recovered Claudio-Neronian pottery including samian ware, brooches, and traces of defensive ditches and timber structures consistent with a small fort or vexillation post. The site now lies beneath 20th-century housing, and no substantial modern excavation has clarified its precise plan or size, leaving its garrison and exact dimensions uncertain.
Broxtowe Roman fort was an early auxiliary fort on the western fringe of modern Nottingham, occupied from around AD 50 to the 70s during the initial Roman advance into the Midlands. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Broxtowe Roman fort 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 Barton-in-Fabis (11.1 km), Romano-British nucleated enclosed settlement and Roman villa complex at Glebe Farm (11.2 km), Two Roman camps 350m north east of Lodge Farm (11.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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