The Scargill Moor shrines are two small rural sanctuaries situated about a mile south of the Roman fort of Lavatrae (Bowes), beside a tributary of the Eller Beck. Both were dedicated to Vinotonus, a local Celtic deity equated in one inscription with Silvanus, and were in use during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, almost certainly serving the garrison of Bowes rather than a civilian community.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site is one of the clearest examples in northern Britain of a frontier garrison venerating a native upland god, and Vinotonus is known from virtually nowhere else, making this a key locus for the cult. The altars attest worship by commanding officers of the cohors I Thracum and cohors I Aquitanorum stationed at Bowes, illustrating how auxiliary units engaged with indigenous moorland deities, probably linked to hunting.
Excavated by Richmond and others in the 1940s, the shrines were modest drystone structures — one a small rectangular cella, the other a circular building — yielding several altars to Vinotonus, including one dedicated by Caesius Frontinus, prefect of the Thracians, and another by Julius Secundus. The altars are now in the Bowes Museum, while the structures themselves are slight and partly eroded by the moor.
The Scargill Moor shrines are two small rural sanctuaries situated about a mile south of the Roman fort of Lavatrae (Bowes), beside a tributary of the Eller Beck. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a shrine site from the Roman period in Britain.
Scargill Moors Roman shrines is classified as a Roman shrine — a religious 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 Lavatris (3 km), Romano-British settlement site to the east and south-east of East Mellwaters farmhouse (3.7 km), Roman signal station 190m north west of Vale House Farm (5.6 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.
Research the area around Scargill Moors Roman shrines