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place:-
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roman fort, Lancaster
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locality:-
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Lancaster
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county:-
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Lancashire
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roman fort
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coordinates:-
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SD4761
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10Km square:-
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SD46
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1Km square |
SD4761 |
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descriptive text:- |
West 1778 (11th edn 1821)
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Guide book, A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West,
published by William Pennington, Kendal, Cumbria once
Westmorland, and in London, 1778 to 1821. |
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Page 13:-
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... a place [Lancaster Castle] of much strength, beauty, and
importance; and such it has been ever since its foundation,
on the arrival of the Romans in these parts. An eminence of
swift descent, that commands the fords of a great tiding riv
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Page 14:-
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[riv]er, would not be neglected by so able a general as
Agricola; and accordingly he occupied the crown of this
eminence in the summer of his second campaign, and of the
christian aera 79, and here he erected a station to secure
his conquest and the passes of the river, whilst he
proceeded with his army across the bay of Morecambe, into
Furness. The station was called Longovicum, and in process
of time the inhabitants were called Longovices, i.e. a
people living upon the Lon or Lune. The station communicated
with Overborough, by exploratory mounts (some of them still
remaining) on the banks of the Lune, which also answered the
purposes of guarding the fords of the river, and overawing
the natives. The mounts of Halton, Melling, and at the east
end of the bridge of Lune, near Hornby are still entire. The
station at Lancaster was connected with that at Watercrook,
near Kendal, by the intervention of the beacon on Warton
Crag, and the castellum on the summit of a hill that rises
immediately above Watercrook, at present called Castle
Steads.
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...
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Page 15:-
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The green mount on which the castle stands appears to be an
artefactum of the Romans. In digging into it a few years
ago, a Roman silver denarius was found at a great depth.
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...
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Page 18:-
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Though the station was one of the first which the Romans had
in these parts, and, from its importance, the last they
abandoned,
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Page 19:-
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yet, but few Roman British remains have been discovered at
it.
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The Caledonians, the unconquered enemies and greatest plague
of the Romans in Britain, were particularly galled and
offended with the garrison at Lancaster, it being always the
first to oppose them, as often as they invaded the empire,
by crossing the Solway firth. ...
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Page 20:-
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... Hence it may be inferred, that the present town of
Lancaster stands on a magazine of Roman-British antiquities;
and this is often verified by digging under ancient houses,
where Roman remains are frequently found, and where it
appears that the earth has been removed.- Beside what Dr.
Leigh mentions, there are many recent instances that prove
the conjecture.
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In the year 1772, in digging a cellar, where an old house
had stood, in a street or lane, called Pudding-Lane (almost
in the centre of the town) there was found, reversed in a
bed of fine sand, above five feet underground, a square
inscribed stone, of four feet by two and a half dimensions.
A foot and two inches were broken off the lower corner on
the right hand side, so as to render the inscription
obscure, but the remaining letters were very plain,
elegantly formed, square, and about three inches high. The
inscription had consisted of eight or nine lines, of which
six are entire and of easy explanation; the loss in the
seventh is easily supplied; but the eighth must be made out
by the common style of such votive stones. The elegance of
the characters pronounces them to be the work of the best
times; but the two small letters in the
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Page 21:-
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third and fifth lines reduce it to an age of the Emperor
Gordian; and if the three small letters have been occasioned
by the omission of the sculptor, then it will be of higher
antiquity. It is known by inscriptions found at Olenacum
(old Carlisle) that the Augustan wing mentioned on this
tablet was stationed there in the time of Gordian; and now
from this inscription, it seems to have been at Lancaster.
This memorable stone was in the rare collection of Sir
Ashton Lever, Knt.
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A few years ago, in sinking a cellar in an old house in
Church-street, great quantities of fragments of Roman
earthenware were thrown out, urns, paterae, &c. many of
them finely glazed, and elegantly marked with emblematic
figures. Also some copper coins were found, and an entire
lamp, with a turned-up perforated handle to hang it by, the
nozzle of which was black from use. At the depth of two
yards were likewise discovered a great number of human
bones, with burned ashes, a wall of great thickness, and a
well filled with rubbish of the same kind, probably leading
to a vault were (sic) other human remains were deposited;
but the curious must for ever regret that no further search
was made into its use and contents.
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What throws new light upon the station
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Page 22:-
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here is the late discovery of a Roman pottery, at Quarmoor,
near Lancaster. ... But the greatest discovery is gathered
from a tile with turned-up edges, impressed on each end with
the words Ale Sebusia, which points out a wing of cavalry
not heard of before. The same inscription is found on
bricks, the label smaller, and the letters Ala Subasia. The
shape of the second letter in the first word is like that in
the inscription on the rock near Brampton, in Cumberland,
supposed to have been cut in the time of the Emperor
Severus, A.D. 207, and is the fifth L in Horsley's Alphabet.
On the brick the letters are square, from which it may be
inferred that this wing was long stationed at Lancaster.
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placename:-
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Longovicum
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person:-
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: Agricola
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person:-
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: Longovices
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person:-
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: Caledonians
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person:-
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unit
: Augustan wing
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person:-
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unit
: Ale Sebusia wing
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person:-
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: Lever, Ashton, Sir
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date:-
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1778
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period:-
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18th century, late; 1770s
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Old Cumbria Gazetteer - JandMN: 2008
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