Glannoventa

Glannoventa

Visible remains of the extra-mural Ravenglass Roman Bath House.
Shown within England
Location	Ravenglass, Cumbria, England
Region	Brittania
Coordinates	54°20′57″N 3°24′15″W / 54.34917°N 3.40417°W / 54.34917; -3.40417
Type	Fortification and settlement
History
Founded	c.122
Periods	Roman Imperial
Site notes
Excavation dates	1976-8
Public access	yes

Part of a series on the
Military of ancient Rome 753 BC – AD 476
Structural history Army Unit types and ranks Decorations and punishments Legions Auxilia Generals Navy Fleets Admirals
Campaign history Wars and battles
Technological history Military engineering Castra Siege engines Triumphal arches Roads
Political history
Strategy and tactics Infantry tactics
Frontiers and fortifications Limes Walls Limes Britannicus Antonine Wall Hadrian's Wall Saxon Shore Limes Germanicus Alb Limes Lauter Valley Limes Lower Germanic Limes Main Limes Neckar-Odenwald Limes Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes Wetterau Limes Danube–Iller–Rhine Limes Norican Limes Claustra Alpium Iuliarum Pannonian Limes Limes Alutanus Limes Moesiae Trajan's Wall Anastasian Wall Limes Sarmatiae Limes Arabicus Limes Tripolitanus Limes Mauretaniae
Ancient Rome portal
v t e

Glannoventa is a Roman fort associated with the Roman naval base at Ravenglass in Cumbria, England.^[1] Its name is derived from the Latin place-name Clanoventa as recorded in the 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary, Glannibanta in the 4th-century Notitia Dignitatum, and Cantiventi in the 6th-century Ravenna Cosmography.

An infantry unit of the Roman army based at the fort in 158 AD was the First Cohort Aelia Classica, where ‘Aelius’ was the family name of the Emperor Hadrian, while ‘Classica’ is derived from the Latin classis ‘fleet’, suggesting that the soldiers were recruited from the fleet in Hadrian’s time (117 to 138).^[2]

According to the entry in the Notitia Dignitatum, the Cohort I Morinorum, an infantry auxiliary of 500 men was stationed in Ravenglass in the 4th century.^[3]

Apart from the extramural bath house, little survives of the fort. A railway line was built through it in the nineteenth century, and one end has been affected by coastal erosion.^[4]

A Roman Road led inland via Hardknott Roman Fort and other sites named in the Ravenna Cosmography.^[5]

The walls of a bath house, sometimes referred to as Walls Castle, survive to the remarkable height of 4 metres, and include bricked archways. This building was constructed to the north east of the fort. It is under the care of English Heritage.^[6]

A project to excavate the vicus ("the civilian area to the east of the fort") began in 2013.^[7] It has concentrated on areas identified in a geophysical survey.