Inchtuthil, traditionally identified with the Pinnata Castra ("fortified camp") mentioned by Ptolemy, was a legionary fortress built around AD 83–84 in the aftermath of Agricola's victory at Mons Graupius, intended as the permanent base of Legio XX Valeria Victrix in northern Caledonia. Covering some 21.5 hectares (53 acres) on a plateau above the Tay, it included barracks for ten cohorts, granaries, workshops, a hospital (valetudinarium), and headquarters buildings, but was systematically demolished and abandoned around AD 86–87 before it was ever fully completed, almost certainly because troops were withdrawn to meet a Danubian crisis.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Inchtuthil represents the northernmost legionary fortress ever built in the Roman Empire and the high-water mark of Roman ambitions in Britain; its deliberate abandonment marks the strategic decision to retreat from the conquest of Caledonia, a watershed in the history of Roman Britain.
Excavations by Sir Ian Richmond and J.K. St Joseph between 1952 and 1965 produced one of the most complete plans of any early imperial legionary fortress, revealing the meticulous demolition of buildings and the famous hoard of around 750,000 unused iron nails (some 7 tonnes) buried in a pit to deny them to the natives. Associated tem
Inchtuthil, traditionally identified with the Pinnata Castra ("fortified camp") mentioned by Ptolemy, was a legionary fortress built around AD 83–84 in the aftermath of Agricola's victory at Mons Graupius, intended as the permanent base of Legio XX Valeria Victrix in northern Caledonia. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Pinnata Castra 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 Victoria? (1.1 km), Cargill (3.8 km), Untitled (6.4 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.
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