Lancaster
A Roman fort site at the N end of the Lancashire plain. Occupation began in the Flavian period with the construction of an auxiliary fort on top of the hill now occupied by the Castle and St. Mary's Church. Recent excavation shows that the fort underwent at least four periods of occupation extending into the late 4th c. when a disaster occurred, presumably ca. A.D. 367. By the later periods the site had changed in character and the so-called Wery Wall appears to represent the defenses of a coastal station comparable to a Saxon Shore fort. Finds are in the local museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYI. A. Richmond, “Excavations on the Site of the Roman Fort at Lancaster,” Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs. and Ches. 105 (1953) 1ff; G.D.B. Jones, “Roman Lancashire,”ArchJ 127 (1970) 237ffMI.
G.D.B. JONES