The site lies on the Cumbrian coast immediately north of the auxiliary fort of Alauna (Maryport), one of the major garrison posts on the Hadrianic coastal frontier system extending south from Bowness-on-Solway. The "tower 22a" designation refers to a milefortlet/tower along this coastal chain, while the cemetery component reflects the extramural burial zone associated with the fort and its substantial vicus, active broadly from the early 2nd to the later 4th century AD.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Maryport was the largest fort on the Cumbrian coast and a key command post in the western extension of Hadrian's frontier; its cemeteries are therefore significant for understanding the demography and funerary practice of a long-lived military community at the edge of the empire. The juxtaposition of cemetery and signalling tower is characteristic of how extramural space around northern forts was structured along approach roads and frontier lines.
Geophysical survey and the wider Maryport landscape investigations (notably by Newcastle University and the Senhouse Museum Trust from 2011 onwards) have identified extensive extramural features north of the fort, including possible enclosed burial plots and structures, but I am not aware of any substantial published excavation specifically of this cemetery area adjacent to tower 22a. Finds from the broader Maryport extramural zone include the well-known altar pits, cremation and inhumation burials, and tombstones recovered since the 19th century
The site lies on the Cumbrian coast immediately north of the auxiliary fort of Alauna (Maryport), one of the major garrison posts on the Hadrianic coastal frontier system extending south from Bowness-on-Solway. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a cemetery site from the Roman period in Britain.
Maryport Golf Course tower 22a, 350m north of the Cemetery Chapel, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast is classified as a Roman cemetery — a civilian 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 Brownrigg milefortlet 22, 800m north east of the Cemetery Chapel, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (0.5 km), Brownrigg North tower 21b, 830m north west of Canonby Hall, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1 km), Sea Brows (milefortlet 23), 500m south west of Bank End part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Maryport Golf Course tower 22a, 350m north of the Cemetery Chapel, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast