Petuaria was a Romano-British civitas-capital-rank settlement on the north bank of the Humber estuary in the territory of the Parisi, occupying a strategic position at a major ferry crossing on the route between Lincoln (Lindum) and York (Eboracum). It originated as a Flavian fort around AD 70, evolving into a defended civilian settlement by the mid-2nd century and remaining occupied into the late 4th century, though it shrank in the later Roman period.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Petuaria is widely identified with the *Petuariensium* attested in the famous inscription (RIB 707) of M. Ulpius Januarius, an aedile who donated a *proscaenium* (stage) c. AD 140–144, suggesting it held a formal civic status — possibly as the *caput civitatis* of the Parisi, though this remains debated. Its location controlled cross-Humber traffic and likely served as a minor port linking East Yorkshire to the Lincolnshire shore.
Excavations by Philip Corder in the 1930s and by John Wacher in 1958–61 revealed successive defensive circuits — earthen ramparts and later stone walls with projecting bastions — enclosing roughly 5–6 hectares, along with timber and stone buildings, but the predicted theatre and forum have never been securely located. Recent geophysics and community excavations (the Petua
Petuaria was a Romano-British civitas-capital-rank settlement on the north bank of the Humber estuary in the territory of the Parisi, occupying a strategic position at a major ferry crossing on the route between Lincoln (Lindum) and York (Eboracum). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
*Petuaria is classified as a Roman settlement — 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 Old Winteringham (1.6 km), Brough Petuaria Roman settlement (4.6 km), Winterton (4.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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