Nether Denton Fort
Built when the frontier moved to the Stanegate and abandoned when the Wall was completed.
Location
NETHER-DENTON-ROMAN-FORT-location-from-the-North
Nether Denton Roman Fort is situated on the top of a ridge south of the Irthing River near Chapelburn (CA8 2LY) in East Cumbria north of the A69. St Cuthbert’s Church and rectory are built on the site.
It was about 6.5 miles west of Brampton Old Church Fort and 2 miles from the fortlet at Throp. Boothby Roman Fortlet was about 5 miles to the West.
Detail
NETHER-DENTON-SITE-OF-ROMAN-FORT
It was built either late in the 1st century / early in the 2nd century on the Stanegate. It was turf and wood fort with an outer ditch. An enclosure measured 650ft by 530ft; this could be the outer defences or an eight acres earlier fort.
Nether Denton Roman Fort inside the enclosure was about 3 acres and would have held a cohort of infantry. Part of a rampart still survives in a field wall, 5ft high and 30ft wide
A considerable number of finds were found when the rectory was built in the middle of the 19th century. To the south and west was a civil settlement
Nether Denton Roman Fort was abandoned sometime after Hadrian’s Wall was commissioned around 125AD. Unusually the civil settlement continued after the fort was abandoned, probably because of Birdoswald only 2.5 miles away. It was built to guard the River Irthing with a good view to the North.