Lancaster was a Roman auxiliary fort occupying the hilltop now crowned by Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, overlooking the tidal River Lune. There were successive forts on the site from the Flavian period (c. AD 70s) through the 4th century, with the final phase being the large "Wery Wall" stone fort of late Roman date, likely part of the Saxon Shore-type coastal defence system facing the Irish Sea.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Lancaster guarded the Lune estuary and the western coastal route into Cumbria, serving as a naval and supply node; in the late Roman period it housed the *Numerus Barcariorum Tigrisiensium* (Tigris bargemen), a rare attested unit reflecting its role in coastal patrol and logistics. Its late 3rd/4th-century rebuild on a markedly larger plan, with projecting bastions, indicates strategic upgrading against Irish Sea raiding.
Excavations on Vicarage Field, Mitre Yard and at the Castle have revealed multiple fort phases, timber and stone defences, a substantial bath-house complex (Mitre House baths), and the surviving fragment of the late Roman "Wery Wall" with its bastion footing. Notable finds include the Insus tombstone (a cavalryman of the Ala Augusta depicted decapitating a fallen Briton), inscriptions naming the Ala Sebosi
Lancaster was a Roman auxiliary fort occupying the hilltop now crowned by Lancaster Castle and Priory Church, overlooking the tidal River Lune. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Lancaster 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 Roman kilns 25yds (20m) NE of Fairyhill Cottage (5.5 km), Romano-British farmstead immediately south of Russell Farm (16.3 km), Kalagon/Galacum (19.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Lancaster