The rectangular enclosure that defined this Roman fort was built in the 70s AD as part of the campaign to integrate southern Wales into the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

of Britannia Superior. It lay on a key road, now known as the Sarn Helen (RR69), from the legionary fortress of Isca Augusta ( Caerleon) that ran north west across Wales to Bremia and on to North Wales. It also sat on a road (the Via Julia Montana, or RR623) running from Moridunum (Carmarthen) across to eastern Wales at Castell Collen ( Llandrindod Wells). It thus held an important crossroads along with a bridging point over the River Towy, and the town that grew up near the fort retained its significance and became

Llandovery Llandovery (; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 road, A40 and A483 road, A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and w ...

Name and Designation

The name Alabum is known from a 7th-century list of places known as the

Ravenna Cosmography The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' (, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a work describing the Ecumene, known world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. It consists of five books describing ...

and is identified as this particular

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

from the arrangement of the named places along the Roman road network. The western side of the site has some well preserved scarped banks although much of the fort has been built-over or otherwise obscured. Early documentation of the site was made in 1873, where it was suggested it could be the location for 'Loventinum', a place name recorded by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

for which Pumsaint has subsequently been the preferred location. The Llandovery fort was noted on the First Series

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map of 1888. In 1949 the Llandovery site was identified as a good fit for the place-name of Alabum. On 11 April 1961 it was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Ref. CM188), giving the site statutory protection from damage.

Location

The enclosure is by and at some point was reduced in size. The presence of some earlier ceramics and evidence from stratigraphy hints at a possible earlier (50s AD) beginning to the fort. It is located within the former parish of

Llanfair-ar-y-bryn Llanfair-y-bryn is a Community (Wales), community and Church in Wales parish in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Covering an area of some 95 km², it lies along and to the northwest and southeast of the A483 road, A483 Swansea to Chester road immedi ...

and is within the community of

in the Welsh

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

. The road now known as Llanfair Hill runs through the site of the fort enclosure, and may well be on the line of one of the Roman streets. St Mary's Church, a 12th-century building on the site of an earlier monastic cell, also stands within the fort enclosure.

History

The fort was probably built in the 1st century with an enclosing rampart and double ditch. A quadruple ditch was dug on the north-east side to protect the flat terrain in that direction. A stone revetment was later added. A military bath house lay between the fort and the River Bran. The chain of military forts across southern Wales appear to have been active between the 70s to 120s AD, although there is some evidence of the site still being occupied into the 4th century. A faint earthwork can still be seen around the church of St Mary which has Roman tiles incorporated into its fabric.

References

External links

Alabum on Roman Britain website
{{Authority control Roman fortifications in Carmarthenshire Archaeological sites in Carmarthenshire Roman legionary fortresses in Wales Llandovery