Tomen y Mur is a Roman auxiliary fort situated on a remote upland shelf in southern Snowdonia (Gwynedd), commanding the road between Segontium (Caernarfon) and Canovium/Caer Gai toward the south. Founded under the Flavians c. AD 78, likely during Agricola's campaigns, it was initially built in timber and turf, reduced in size in a second phase, and appears to have been abandoned by the mid-2nd century, possibly during the Antonine reorganisation of the Welsh garrison. The site is famously crowned by a Norman motte raised within the abandoned defences, which gives the place its modern name.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort was a key node in the network controlling the mountainous interior of north-west Wales, holding down the Ordovices and linking the coastal forts to those of the upper Severn and Dee. It is unusual for the remarkable preservation and visibility of its associated extramural features — including an amphitheatre (parade ground/ludus), bathhouse, mansio, practice camps, and a substantial vicus — making it one of the most complete Roman auxiliary fort complexes in Wales.
Earthwork survey (notably by the RCAHMW) has recorded the fort's two phases of rampart, the small oval amphitheatre to the north (one of only two known at Welsh auxiliary forts, the other at Caerleon being legionary), an aqueduct leat, tile kilns
Tomen y Mur is a Roman auxiliary fort situated on a remote upland shelf in southern Snowdonia (Gwynedd), commanding the road between Segontium (Caernarfon) and Canovium/Caer Gai toward the south. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Tomen y mur 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 Tomen y Mur Roman bath house (0.1 km), Tomen-y-Mur West Practice Camp II (0.2 km), Tomen y Mur amphitheatre (0.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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