Alavana was a name tentatively (and probably wrongly) applied to the ruins of a Roman fort at Watercrook about 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Kendal in Cumbria, for which the Roman name Medibogdo is a perfect fit to its river-bend position. The fort at Watercrook was erected around AD 90, originally in timber but then rebuilt in stone around the year 130 during the reign of Hadrian. The fort was abandoned for about 20 years during the Antonine occupation of Scotland. It was refurbished under Marcus Aurelius and occupied until around 270, when its military units departed. Its remains are now largely buried beneath a local farm, while excavated artifacts are displayed at the Kendal Museum.
Alone was probably the name of a civilian settlement at Kendal. The Antonine Itinerary placed it 18 m.p. from Galava and 19 m.p. from Calacum. It is a spelling variant of Alauna, a very common ancient name in Britain (at least a dozen instances) and on the Continent, which served primarily as a river name, and was applied secondarily to forts and settlements on those rivers. Sorting out all their locations and their spellings in ancient sources is not easy.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Alavana was a name tentatively (and probably wrongly) applied to the ruins of a Roman fort at Watercrook about 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Kendal in Cumbria, for which the Roman name Medibogdo is a perfect fit to its river-bend position. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Watercrook Roman Fort and Settlement 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 Sedgwick aqueduct (3.7 km), Roman milestone near Middleton vicarage (11.9 km), Romano-British settlement, 450m east of High Borrans (12.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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This page covers the Roman site at Watercrook Roman Fort and Settlement. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this site alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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