Burrium was a major Roman legionary fortress established c. AD 55–57 under Quintus Veranius or Suetonius Paulinus, serving as the base of Legio II Augusta during the campaigns against the Silures of southeast Wales. Covering roughly 19 hectares (around 48 acres), it was the legion's principal headquarters until c. AD 74–75, when operations shifted to the new fortress at Isca (Caerleon), after which Burrium was retained as a smaller works depot and supply base into the early 2nd century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the forward legionary base for the conquest of Wales, Burrium was the strategic hinge of Roman military operations in the southwest of the province before Caerleon superseded it. Its retention as a manufacturing and supply centre after the legion moved suggests a continuing logistical role supporting Isca and the Welsh frontier garrisons.
Extensive excavations by W. H. Manning and others from the 1960s onward (beneath the modern town of Usk) have revealed timber barracks, granaries, workshops, defensive ditches, and notable evidence of metalworking, including ironworking debris and a large assemblage of military equipment and tools. Finds of pottery, coins, and a substantial early Flavian artefact group have made Burrium an important type-site for mid-1st-century Roman military material culture in Britain.
Burrium was a major Roman legionary fortress established c. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Burrium 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 Great Bulmore (9.6 km), Isca Silurum (11 km), Caerleon Roman amphitheatre (11.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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