The Upton-by-Chester camp is a small Roman temporary or practice camp of approximately 1.2 hectares, situated on the rising ground north of the legionary fortress of Deva (Chester), roughly 2 km from the fortress defences. Its size and proximity to Deva strongly suggest it functioned as a training or practice camp used by legionaries of Legio II Adiutrix and subsequently Legio XX Valeria Victrix, likely active from the late 1st through the 2nd century AD, though precise dating is unconfirmed.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of several small camps clustered in the hinterland of Deva, Upton-by-Chester contributes to a recognised pattern of practice works around major legionary bases — comparable to those around Caerleon (Isca) and the well-known concentration at Llandrindod Common — where troops rehearsed the construction of ditches, ramparts, and gateways. It is not individually famous, but collectively such sites are key evidence for Roman military training regimes.
The site was identified through aerial photography in 1989, with cropmarks revealing the playing-card outline characteristic of a Roman camp; no significant excavation has been published, and finds, dating evidence, and internal features remain essentially unknown. Confirmation has rested primarily on subsequent aerial reconnaissance and geophysical observation rather than ground intervention.
The Upton-by-Chester camp is a small Roman temporary or practice camp of approximately 1.2 hectares, situated on the rising ground north of the legionary fortress of Deva (Chester), roughly 2 km from the fortress defences. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a military camp site from the Roman period in Britain.
Upton-by-Chester is classified as a Roman military camp — 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 camp at Upton, 350m north east of the water tower north of Long Lane (0.3 km), Roman camp at Upton Heath, beside the water tower north of Long Lane (0.3 km), Roman camp 300m west of Upton Grange Farm (0.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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