Brampton Old Church Roman Fort
Heading out of Brampton on the Longtown road, after the school is a lane on the left leading to the new cemetery. The South East rampart can be identified on the rising ground to the west from the new cemetery on the left.
BRAMPTON-OLD-CHURCH ROMAN FORT
Up the road to the farm you will find on the left the large old cemetery with its 11th century church of St Martins. The cemetery covers most of the Northern fort.
BRAMPTON-OLD-CHURCH-ST-MARTINS IN THE NORTH EAST OF THE ROMAN FORT
Brampton Old Church Roman Fort is situated about 200yds south of the Stanegate on a steep bluff overlooking the River Irthing to the West, controlling the Stanegate river crossing
The Stanegate
BRAMPTON OLD CHURCH ON THE STANEGATE
Brampton Old Church Roman Fort is 7 miles east of Carlisle, on a side road south of the Stanegate through a cutting on higher ground where the fort was located.
History
Brampton-Old-Church-Roman-Fort-SE-Rampart
The fort was built probably in the first decade of the2nd century; it was a typical turf, clay and wooden fort on a base of cobles. It covered an area of about 3.7 acres measuring 410 by 396ft and therefore almost square. It was large enough for an infantry cohort of about 500 strong.
It was used for about 20 years and then demolished, when the Wall forts were completed. It is a mile south of the Wall fort of Castlesteads.
Excavations
Brampton-Old-Church-Fort Diagram
It has been fairly extensively excavated between 1935 and 1962, all internal buildings have a clay base with a timber upper levels .The commander’s house was very small or perhaps could have been a workshop. This gives the impression that the fort may have been commanded by a centurion therefore a very small commander’s house, rank was everything, who knows?
BRAMPTON-OLD-CHURCH-NE-CORNER-AND-NORTHERN-RAMPART
The extent of the fort in the northern cemetery can just be identified.