Segontium Roman Fort - Caernarfon, Wales, UK
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 53° 08.238 W 004° 15.955
30U E 415315 N 5888292
Quick Description: From 77AD to 394AD this Roman fort controlled northern Wales.
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 8/24/2008 6:14:27 AM
Waymark Code: WM4H1M
Views: 18
Long Description:Although now surrounded by modern housing, the Segontium Roman Fort
still commands the high ground over the town of Caernarfon in
Wales.
The site consists of stone walls and foundations of the Roman fort
and a small museum dedicated to preserving the artifacts found on
the site and in the area. Visitors are encouraged to purchase a
small map to understand the layout of the fort and how it operated.
An interpretive sign at the museum provides a brief history:
These low foundations are the remains of the Roman fort of
Segontium (after the River Seiont). Built towards the end of the
A.D. 77, when the Roman governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola had finally
conquered the native Ordovices of north Wales, it was part of a
military network of forts and roads constructed by the Roman army
in Wales and supported by major legionary bases at Chester and
Caerleon.
The fort, which extends either side of the modern road, was
built to accommodate a regiment of auxiliary infantry up to 1,000
strong. Auxiliaries were not as heavily armed as legionary
soldiers; drawn from various parts of the empire, they would
normally serve for 25 years but were not Roman citizens.
Segontium was garrisoned until about A.D. 394 - longer than any
other Welsh base. It later passed into legend as Caer aber Seint in
The Dream of Macsen Wledig, one of the early Welsh tales of the
Mabinogion.