The Early Years of Roman Occupation at Lancaster

Britain, apart )l TT{E EARLY YEARS OF ROMAN Tacitus, as the finest warrior in early in the e OCCUPATION AT LANCASTER' from Caratacus. Cartimandua, Roman occupation of Britain, entered into a David Shotter treaty with Rome, which we may assume was a her paramount rs means to lending security to her co-operation with the rl h tras generally been recognised that the Roman position in return for ) of ouct4lation of Lancaster began in the early ito-- authorities; she gave ample evidence she handed g Flar"ian period - that is, in the A.D. 70's. Until her good faith when, in A.D. 51, Rome when he sought .t recently, it was assumed that Agricola was Caratacus over to l reryonsible for this during his second campaign sanctuary with her. r rim A.D. 78, which took in the territory of the the 50s I Brigantes. There are, however, a number of It is evident from Tacitus' account that tensions I frctors which indicate that the early years of and 60s saw occasional eruptions of Roman elements I occupation in this part of the north-west was between the pro- and anti- Brigantes, that is, between faction ) more complex than this. amongst the The solution t led by Cartimandua and Venutius. these outbreaks was intervention by Roman t Excavation on Castle Hill and the interpretation to troops; whilst Tacitus provides few details of I of its results have bY no means been the this, it is reasonable to assume that the base for I sraightforward; this has been due largely to auxiliary fort at s€vere restriction of areas available to study, and these operations was the I the fact that those areas that have become Chester, which preceded the legionary fortress that part of on the site. Chester's chief importance lay with ) available have been largely outside and the Dee the fort that contained major buildings. Further, the guarding of North Wales the effect of the subsequent building has been to estuary. add complications of already complex undoubtedly chronological sequences. Although Roman troops carnpaigned in the north-west during this period, permanent sites were That an auxiliary fort sat on top of Castle Hill is there is no signs that course such action not in doubt; initially built from turf and timber' established. Rather, the of of it was, according to a surviving building- was probably traced by the establishment these are inscription,t reconstructed in stone in Trajan's temporary campaign-camps. Few of structures reign. It is evident, too, that the original turf and known in the area, as their epherneral timber fort had been enlarged and probably have proved extremely vulnerable to plough- as Rey Cross and reoriented, with the main gate moving from the damage. Only a few, such that is of marginal fort's eastern to its northern side. The Trajanic Troutbeck, survive in land building -inscription provides our first agriculnral value. The most likely clue to the provided by the reasonably secure date for the fort, so have can location of such activity is we reconstruct its history prior to the first evidence of coins - particularly Nerovian and decade of the second century? In particular, earlier copper and bronze issues' when did Roman troop's first see action on the coins are contemporary banks of the River Lune? We know very little Most diagnostic of such of the political geography of the Brigantes copies of issues of Claudius' reigR, some of quality indeed,' these before the Roman occupation, although it is *ttirh were of very poor minted by units of the evident that so large an area that is credited to were in the first instance them cannot have been organised in a Roman army, and reflected unpredictability in They appear to homogeneous fashion. There wsre clearly the supply of official coinage- frequent use during the factions within the tribe, perhaps based on such have been in their most probably "sub-groups" as the Carvetii (around Carlisle) 50s and 60s; their findspots, therefore, point to areas where the Roman army was active and the Setantii (perhaps around Moreca-rrbe -rluring Ba9.' More dramatically, the factionalism is those years.o These coins have been the north-west, but evidenced in the turbulent relationship between found in many parts of and in the river- queen Cartimandua and her husband, Venutius, particularly in coastal locations to the fact that the who was described by the Roman historian, valleys. This may well point 1l Roman army's method of dealing with trouble whilst others crossed the Pennines by way of amongst the Brigantes during these years was to Stainmore, leaving behind them the campaign- send troops by ship from the Dee estuary, camps at Rey Cross and Crackenthorpe, and disembarking thern as required, and particularly meeting Agricola in the neighbourhood of in river-estuaries, an around Morecambe Bay, Brougham for a joint-assault upon Carlisle. It with finds at Ashton, the Lancaster-area, may have been that a line was pushed from Cartmel and Barrow. This perhaps serves to Carlisle in the direction of Maryport, via the confirm the significance of Morecambe Bay in newly discovered large fort at Blennerhasset;' the political geography of Brigantia-perhaps as the purpose of this may have been to police the the centre of Setantian influence-and to indicate Carvetii of Solway and separate them from the that Lancaster probably came face to face with Brigantes. The material from Blennerhasset the Roman army during its attempts to appeirs to be dateable to the early 70s, whilst extinguish the brush'fires of Brigantian timbsrs from recent excavations at Carlislet have rebellion. been dated to a similar period. It is evident, however, that these activities in the Agricola's route west of the Pflinines at this 50s and 60s did not lead directly to any kind of stage is less easy to discern; but he may have permanent Roman military presence in the operated out of sites such as Wroxeter and Lancaster-area. It was not until A.D. 69 that the Littlechester and proceeded via King Street tensions amongst the Brigantian factions finally through Middlewhich, crossing the Mersey near boiled over into a major threat to stability; Wilderspool where there may have been a fort,t Venutius evidently took advantage of the fact and the Ribble near WaltonJe-Dale. The that Roman troops were temporarily distracted obvious destination for such a route would by their own civil war to remove Cartimandua- appear to have been Lancastsr. Although no by now, his ex-wife-from power. As Tacitus timbers from Castle Hill have been dated, the says, Brigantia was transformed overnight into a coin-assemblage, with pre-Flavian issues and hostile pow€r. The seriousness of this situation issues of the early years of Vespasian's reign invited immediate attention; it is clear that the (i.e. the early 70s) would lend weight to the governor, Vettius Botanus (A.D. 69-71), wanted argument, suggesting that the first fort was military action in the north; but the first established on Castle Hill during Cerialis' comprehensive attack came when the emperor governership. The primary clay-and-turf Vespasian- the eventual victor in the civil war- rampart belongs to this fort was found in sent his son-in-law, Petillius Cerialis, to Britain excavations in the grounds of the Old Vicarage as governor in A.D. 71. Already in the north- in 1975;n the accumulation of evidence suggests west, as commander of Legion XX, was the that it may have occupied some 5.5. acres, and future governor, Gnaeus Julius Agricola.t was orientated with its main (east) gate opening onto the Lune now occupied by Church Street. According to Tacitus, in his biography of Agricola, Cerialis divided the troops available Agricola's troops probably followed the line of between himself and Agricola. In view of the the river Lune, although neither Burrow-in- fact that Legion XX was at that time based at Lonsdale nor Low Borrow Bridge have Wroxeter, it is a reasonable assumption that produced dating evidence of this period. Agricola's responsibilities were located west of Ribchester, on the other hand, has, but it rernains the Pennines. It is now accepted that the broad unclear whether at this early stage it was reached fonnat of this period of canrpaigning was that from the south or by landings made on the Cerialis himself operated out of Lincoln, the Ribble-estuary.'o It would appear that the base of Legion IX; he probably secured the campaigns undertaken in Brigantia in the early territorial integrity of the Parisi on the east coast 70s by Cerialis and Agricola were far more of Yorkshire, established a new legionary base at comprehensive than was once thought. Clearly, York, .and defeated Venutius, possibly in the they resulted in the breaking of Brigantian vicinity of the large oppidum at Stanwick. From resistance, leaving the area sufficiently safe to there, some of his troops probably went allow the resumption of campaigning in Wales northwards to Corbridge, and perhaps beyond, in the mid-7Os, and evidently making Agricola's t2 )f r,:-Tpaign in the area in A.D. 78 a relatively Much of this remains speculative, but its offers a l- s;:r eh tforward affair. revised model for the early history of the fort at d Lancaster, which is consistent with the latest )f :r.cavation at Lancaster does not allow us to interpretations of evidence from northern It isect any change in the fort lay-out which is Britain. n ;trtailly attributable to Agricola.

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