Bremia (fort)

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Bremia
The Afon Teifi and Cefn Garth, Ceredigion - geograph.org.uk - 1243023.jpg
Bremia (fort) is located in Ceredigion
Bremia (fort)
Known also asLlanio Roman Fort
Founded during the reign ofVespasian
Foundedc. 73 - 77 AD
Abandonedc. 125 AD
Place in the Roman world
ProvinceBritannia
Nearby waterRiver Teifi
Stationed military units
— Cohorts —
Location
Coordinates52°11′23″N 3°59′05″W / 52.1896°N 3.9848°W / 52.1896; -3.9848
Place nameLlanio
TownLlanddewi Brefi
CountyCeredigion
CountryWales
Reference
UK-OSNG referenceSN643564
Site notes
Discovery yearLate 17th century
ConditionTraces and crop marks
Controlled byScheduled Monument (SAM: CD129)

Bremia is the name of the Roman fort in , West Wales. It is in Llanddewi Brefi community area, south-west of Tregaron, in Ceredigion. The fort was built by the Romans around AD 75[1] and was in use to AD 120 in Roman Wales. The fort was situated on Sarn Helen, a Roman road leading north from the fort at Dolaucothi. Five inscribed stones have been found within the fort and surrounding military settlement. Two of these have inscriptions which show the garrison to include to a cohort from the Asturias, northern Spain.[2] Amongst the excavations on the site, is the bathhouse. The bathhouse and fort are scheduled monuments, giving them statutory protection from disturbance.[3]

Documentary evidence[]

The only documentary evidence for the name Bremia is a list of place names of the known world compiled in around 700 AD, known as the Ravenna Cosmography.[1] This places Bremia between Gobannium (Abergavenny) and Alabum (Llandovery). The fort at Llanio is assumed to be the location referred to.[4]

Archaeological evidence[]

The archaeological remains at the site were first noted in the 17th century by Edward Lhuyd, at a site he called 'Cae'r Castell'. Coins, bricks and pottery were all found by him.[2] Details of various excavations were published in 1888, 1961, 1969 and 1972.[2] The dry summers of 1975 and 1976 revealed the extent of the defensive banks and ditches, some street patterns and other details, through cropmarks on aerial photographs.[2] The almost square enclosure, with characteristic rounded corners, measures some 130 metres (430 ft) across, and could have garrisoned some 500 soldiers.[2] Further occupation evidence outside the fort suggests a vicus (settlement) grew up to the south of the fort, which may have housed a further 1,000 people.[2] During the late 1960s and early 1970s a number of excavations were made at the site of the bathhouse, which revealed foundation trenches although the building materials had been removed, and no firm dating evidence was found. A gradiometer geophysical survey of 2005, 75m to the west of the fort, plotted the line of a Roman road running east-west, from the fort, through building plots, with evidence of small smelting or burning sites.[5]

Inscribed stones[]

During excavations, five different inscribed stones have been found. Two of these refer to the cohort of auxiliaries that garrisoned the fort, the other three name different centurians whose men had constructed parts of the fort. The cohort stones read, 'COH II ASTVR ...' ("The Second Cohort of Asturians [...]") and '...MIBVS ...COH II ASTVR', ("[...]mibus [...] the Second Cohort of Asturians"). The centurial stones read, 'ARTI MENNIVS PRIMVS', ("The century of Artius Mennius Primus [made this]"; 'ARTI', ("The century of Artius [made this]"); 'VERIONIS', ("The century of Verionus [made this]").[4]

See also[]

  • List of Scheduled Roman to modern Monuments in Ceredigion
  • Loventium and Llandovery, nearby forts

References[]

  1. ^ a b DAT PRN: 5998 Dyfed Archaeological Trust. Accessed 11 March 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f coflein NPRN: 303530 accessed 15 October 2013
  3. ^ Cadw SAM No: CD129, Llanio Roman Fort and Bathhouse
  4. ^ a b roman-britain.org bremia Archived February 20, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 15 October 2013
  5. ^ Llanio Trawscoed geophys survey report, David Hopewell, 2006 Accessed 16 October 2013.
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