Alauna was a castrum or fort in the Roman province of Britannia. It occupied a coastal site just north of the town of Maryport in the English county of Cumbria (formerly part of Cumberland).
It was linked by a Roman road to the Roman fort and settlement at Derventio (Papcastle) to the southeast, and thence by another road northeast to the regional hub of Luguvalium (Carlisle).
In 2015 "Maryport's Mystery Monuments" was Research Project of the Year in the British Archaeology Awards.
It has been established "beyond reasonable doubt" that the Roman name for Maryport was Alauna. Alauna is a river name and the Roman fort stands on a hill north of the River Ellen. The name Alauna appears securely just once – in the Ravenna Cosmography. The Antonine Itinerary mentions a fort called Alone on the road from Ravenglass to Whitchurch but this cannot be Maryport, but is either a fort at Watercrook (on the river Kent near Kendal) or one at Low Borrowbridge (on the River Lune near Tebay). The Notitia Dignitatum lists a fort called Alione, garrisoned by the Cohors III Nerviorum, which has been equated with both Alauna and Alone by different scholars.
The fort was established during the reign of the emperor Hadrian around AD 122 as a command and supply base for the coastal defences of Hadrian's Wall at its western extremity. There are substantial remains of the Roman fort, which was one of a series along the Cumbrian coast intended to prevent Hadrian's Wall being outflanked by crossing the Solway Firth. Geo-magnetic surveys have revealed a large Roman town surrounding the fort. An archaeological dig discovered evidence of a second, earlier, larger fort next to, and partially under the present remains.
Recent excavations have shown that a nearby enclosure ditch related to a late Iron Age and Romano-British farmstead may even have supplied the fort with food, possibly in exchange for goods like pottery.
TimeScape Surveys (Biggins & Taylor), supported by a grant from the Maryport Heritage Trust, conducted a magnetometry geophysical survey of the fort and its vicus (civilian settlement). Some targeted areas of resistivity survey were completed. The survey was conducted between May 2000 and September 2003 on land at Camp Farm, Maryport. Covering 72.5 hectares (170 acres), it is the largest geophysical survey carried out on the northern Roman frontier.
The survey revealed multi-period activity, together with the possible location of a Roman port or causeway. The fort had been robbed of stone to construct other buildings in the locality. The vicus was well-preserved and had a substantial road leading to the suspected Roman entrepôt. The field system surrounding the vicus was extensive and showed small 'market garden' plots, some containing buildings. The survey also detected a suspected Iron Age enclosure and elements of medieval buildings.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Alauna was a castrum or fort in the Roman province of Britannia. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Maryport (Alavna) Roman fort, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast, its associated vicus and a length of Roman road 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 Alauna/Alione (0.3 km), Roman cremation cemetery, 380m south east of Maryport Roman fort (0.4 km), Sea Brows (milefortlet 23), 500m south west of Bank End part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (0.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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This page covers the Roman site at Maryport (Alavna) Roman fort, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast, its associated vicus and a length of Roman road. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this site alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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Research the area around Maryport (Alavna) Roman fort, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast, its associated vicus and a length of Roman road