Roman Military Deployment in North England

Abstract

In 1963 Michael Jarrett published a short paper on ‘The Military Occupation of Roman Wales.’ It discussed the documentary evidence relating to the Roman conquest of the Welsh tribes and the differing attitudes of these tribes to Rome, but its main importance lay in the six distribution maps illustrating the forts occupied in a.d. 80, 100, 130, 150, 220 and 330. Subsequently Dr J. L. Davies has published a series of nine maps covering the first and second centuries. Two papers have recently extended the same treatment to Scotland. The north of England has never been afforded the same discussion. The most detailed distribution maps published to date are the five which appear in Professor Frere's Britannia. However, there have been maps and discussions of certain areas such as north-west England, or particular periods. It seems appropriate that a portrayal of the changing face of military deployment in north England over nearly 350 years should appear in a volume dedicated to John Gillam, who has done so much to illuminate the history of the area, not least through his work on that basic dating material, coarse pottery.