Carmarthen (Roman Moridunum) began as an auxiliary fort established c. 75 CE during the Flavian campaigns against the Demetae of southwest Wales, likely under Sextus Julius Frontinus. The fort, of standard auxiliary size, lay on the north bank of the River Tywi and was occupied until around 100–120 CE, when the garrison was withdrawn and the site evolved into the civitas capital of the Demetae — one of only two known civitas capitals in Wales.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Moridunum was the westernmost Roman urban centre in Britain and the administrative hub for the Demetae, marking the limit of Romanisation in southwest Wales. Its transition from fort to civitas capital is unusual in Wales, where most military sites did not develop into substantive towns.
Excavations (notably by Heather James and others from the 1960s onwards) have located the fort beneath the later town in the Church Street/Spilman Street area, identifying timber buildings, defensive ditches, and rampart sequences, though the fort plan remains only partially recovered. The later Roman town is better attested, with a well-preserved amphitheatre on the eastern edge, street grid, and domestic buildings.
Carmarthen (Roman Moridunum) began as an auxiliary fort established c. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Carmarthen 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 *Moridunum (0.3 km), Roman amphitheater at *Moridunum (0.8 km), Abercyfor (2.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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