Longthorpe
Site of a 1st c. Roman fortress discovered by aerial photography in 1961. Though no surface features survive, crop marks show two successive Roman enclosures, the outer and larger surrounded by two ditches and the inner by one. Excavation has shown that the inner is the later of the two, for its ditch is dug through traces of the wooden buildings of the larger enclosure (Fortress i). The evidence of pottery and coins suggests that Fortress was occupied ca. 43-60 and Fortress II after 60 for a short period. The N gate of Fortress I consisted of two timber towers of six posts each, flanking two portals. The gates thus stood at the rear of a short court protected by towers on each side and by the gate-structure itself at the back. The N gate of Fortress II was simpler, a single 3.6 m portal, perhaps supporting a tower above.
Traces of buildings inside Fortress consist of narrow rock-cut trenches for wall posts. The buildings do not, for the most part, conform to later Roman army standard types, but two granaries and one auxiliary barrack block as well as the principia and a legionary barrack block have been identified. Fortress I, ca. 10.8 ha, about half the area of a full legionary fortress, belongs to a new class of military site of which seven, all belonging to the 1st c., have been discovered since 1946. The evidence suggests that Longthorpe may have been the fortress from which Petillius Cerialis made his march to Colchester in A.D. 60, and to which he retired after defeat.
BIBLIOGRAPHYS. S. Frere & J. K. St. Joseph, “The Roman Fortress at Longthorpe,” Britannia 5 (1974) 1-129.
S. S. FRERE