Bremetenacvm Veteranorvm

Bremetenacum Veteranorum The Hilltop Settlement of the Veterans

The name of the fort first appears in Iter X of the Antonine Itinerary, “The route from Glannoventa (Ravenglass, Cumbria) to Mediolanum (Whitchurch, Shropshire)”. The name is recorded as Bremetonaci, some twenty-seven miles from Calacum (Burrow in Lonsdale, Lancashire) and twenty miles from Coccium (Wigan, Lancashire). The Notitia Dignitatum of the 3rd/4th centuries supplies the name Bremetenraco, which is listed between the entries Calunium (Lancaster, Lancashire) and Olenacum (Elslack, North Yorkshire), both of which sites are only tentatively identified. The Ravenna Cosmology (R&C#124) of the seventh century lists the name as Bresnetenaci Veteranorum, between the entry for Bravoniacum (Kirkby Thore, Cumbria) and the unknown Pampocalia entry.

When the Domesday Book was produced in 1086, Ribchester was even then known by its modern name and is recorded as Ribelcastre, which translates simply as ‘Roman Fort on the River Ribble’; the Roman name had apparently been forgotten in the five-hundred or so years between the end of Roman Britain and the arrival of the Normans in the eleventh century.

The etymology of the name Bremetenacum is difficult, but may stem from the Welsh/Gaelic word brez ‘hill’ coupled with a form of the Latin teneo meaning ‘to occupy, retain, settle’. The full name would therefore be something along the lines of ‘the Hilltop Settlement of the Veterans’

The Roman Settlement of Ribchester

The Latin name for Ribchester has the suffix Veteranorum, which indicates that veterans were settled here. When the men of the unit stationed at Ribchester were retired from service, it appears that they were granted the use of the marshland lying close to the fort in the nearby Fylde country. They cut a system of drainage channels and thereby recovered large amounts of rich arable land which was used to grow abundant crops, and to raise cattle and horses.

This land was previously owned by the Brigantes tribe, and may have confiscated during the reign of Antoninus Pius (c.154-5AD), for an aside by Pausanias states:

Antoninus never willingly involved the Romans in War … he also removed much of the territory of the Brigantes in Britain because they had embarked upon an armed invasion of the region of Genounia¹, which was subject to the Romans.” Pausanias Description of Greece, VIII.43 3-4.

1. The location of Genounia is unknown.

Equally, the lands in question may have been held as part of an Imperial Estate since the late 70’s, when Cn. Julius Agricola swept through the region during the campaigns prior to his conquest of lowland Scotland, and only allocated later when a clear use for the area had been identified.

The first grants of land to veteran soldiers at Bremetenacum started c.200AD, but the official status of the settlement is uncertain; it certainly was not a colonia, probably not a municipium, though it may have been the centre of an administrative pagus. Other Brigantian territories annexed during the Antonine campaigns were possibly employed to establish the Civitas Carvetiorum in Cumbria. It is also possible that the existing pagus centred on Corstopitum (Corbridge) was up-graded at this time, to form a separate civitas in the north-east of England.

Numismatic Evidence from Ribchester

There have been 151 coins recovered from excavations at Ribchester (including seven illegible copper coins, four of which may be attributed to Vespasian), ranging from six republican silver issues (pre 44BC) to a single copper issue of Valentinian I (Imp. 364-375AD), also 151 casual finds ranging from a single silver republican issue to a gold coin of Gratian (Imp. 367-383). Of the 299 coins which can be dated, 81 of them are Flavian, 43 of the period 259-275AD, 37 Trajanic, 32 Hadrianic, 27 of Constantine and 20 Antonine, with no coins issued after c.378.

A foundation at least as early as Agricola’s governorship would appear to beyond question: however, the very large showing of Flavian coins together with not insignificant numbers of pre-Flavian issues [19] leaves alive the possibility of some pre-Flavian activity.” (Shotter, p.34)

The Auxiliary Fort

The original Flavian timber-built fort continued to be occupied throughout the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, as attested by samian ware dating to both these periods. By the time of Calpurnius Agricola the fort had been replaced in stone. The fort was damaged around 196/7AD and the H.Q. building destroyed, but a Severan inscription records building restorations to both the fort and at least one temple erected outside the defences. Both the fort and its temples were destroyed around 301-306, though repairs were effected at sometime during the mid-fourth century. The last coins from the site are those of Gratian (367-383), and the last dateable pottery was produced in the late-fourth century.

The fort measures 550 by 410 feet (168 x 125 m) within the defences, having an occupation area of just under 5¼ acres (c.2 ha). Defences consisted of a twenty foot wide double-ditch system separated by a narrow berm from the rampart, which was also twenty feet wide and made of puddled clay laid on a raft of oak beams and shingles as a protection against the underlying damp ground. The gateways and corner-towers were of timber, and so it seems, were the original interior buildings, as no traces were found during excavations in 1928.

Severan Reconstruction

The columns of the courtyard portico in the principia at Ribchester had deep grooves cut into their sides, which were probably intended as support-slots for timber screens or panels in the spaces between the columns. The elaborate stone forehall of the principia has been dated to the Severan period. The double granary at Ribchester is also worthy of note as two different construction methods were used in the separate halves of the building, one side had stone pillars supporting the floor, whilst the other had only a single sleeper wall which ran longitudinally down the centre of the structure. The granaries had a massive stone loading-platforms jutting out over two metres from the ends of the buildings, which were probably covered by a timber roof. The septic tank into which the latrines drained has been identified, though the latrines themselves have not yet been excavated.

The Ribchester Garrison

An altarstone dedicated by a centurion of Legio XX Valeria Victrix is not proof that the legion was stationed here. The Ribchester fort was built by men of the Twentieth, that much is certain (vide RIB 592 supra), but what is also apparent is that it was built for a regiment of auxiliary cavalry, not a cohort of infantry. The unknown dedicator of this altarstone was very likely seconded to the staff of the cavalry prefect, presumably in a senior consultative or advisory position, as he was allowed to take his family along.

Perhaps the first occupants of the Ribchester fort were Ala II Asturum, a nominal five-hundred strong auxiliary cavalry unit recruited from among the Astures tribe of north-western Spain.

This unit was a Sarmatian cavalry regiment who replaced the Second Asturian Wing. This was one unit of perhaps seven, totalling 5,500 tribesmen in all, who were drafted from among the savage tribes living beyond the Danube and sent to Britain by Marcus Aurelius in 175AD. These people had previously held Roman client status, but at this particular time were not under direct Roman control. It has been suggested that Ribchester later became a Roman military horse-breeding/training centre, which drew-upon the particular tribal skills of the Sarmatians.

An eighteenth-century historian paints a barbarous picture of the Sarmatiae, which is worth quoting at length:

… The Sarmatians were a savage uncivilized nation, … naturally warlike, and famous for painting their bodies to appear more terrible in the field of battle. They were known for their lewdness, … They generally lived on the mountains without any habitation except their chariots, … They lived upon plunder, and fed upon milk mixed with the blood of horses.