Mediobogdum (Hardknott Roman Fort) is a stone-built auxiliary fort perched dramatically on a rocky shelf above the Esk valley at the western end of the Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It was constructed under Hadrian, probably c. AD 120–138, garrisoned by the Cohors IV Delmatarum (a 500-strong infantry unit from Dalmatia), apparently abandoned under Antoninus Pius when the frontier moved north, and reoccupied briefly later in the 2nd century before final abandonment probably by the early 3rd century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort guarded the strategic mountain road from the port of Glannaventa (Ravenglass) over Hardknott and Wrynose passes to Galava (Ambleside), forming a key link in the western communications network of northern Britannia. Its spectacular setting, remote location, and well-preserved remains make it one of the most evocative auxiliary forts in the Roman Empire.
Excavations in the 1890s and again in the 1960s revealed the standard playing-card plan (c. 1.2 hectares) with four gates, corner towers, a headquarters building (principia), commandant's house (praetorium), granaries (horrea), and a substantial bathhouse to the southeast; an unusual artificially levelled parade ground was identified on the slope above the fort. Finds have been relatively modest — including tile stamps, pottery, and
Mediobogdum (Hardknott Roman Fort) is a stone-built auxiliary fort perched dramatically on a rocky shelf above the Esk valley at the western end of the Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
‘Medibogdo’ 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 road from Wrynose Bottom to Hardknott Ford (2.8 km), Roman road in Wrynose Bottom (6 km), Roman road up Wrynose Pass (6.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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