Mediobogdum
A fort on level ground on the W side of a mountain pass, which controls the road from Galava (Ambleside) to Glannoventa (Ravenglass) and commands an extensive view over the Irish Sea. It was built in Hadrian's reign and garrisoned by Cohort IV Dalmatarum. The occupation probably lasted only some 60-70 years. Thereafter road maintenance gangs or a caretaker unit may have used the site. It is built on uneven rocky ground. The plan is square with a tower at each angle, which can only have been entered from the level of the rampart walk; there are four gates, each with a double portal except the decumana, which is single and has a steep drop into the valley outside. The gate arches were of dressed red sandstone, quarried near the coast some 24 km away. The remainder of the walls were of rough local stone.
The central range of buildings is visible, the principia with two L-shaped rooms on either side of a courtyard, a cross-hall with a rostrum and three rooms in the back range; a double granary, which shows signs of alteration, and an unfinished praetorium. There is space for a courtyard building, but only one range has been built and a wing wall extends forward from it. The granary is built entirely of stone, but the other two buildings probably had only stone sills and were half-timbered. No barrack block has been fully dug but one, of timber, was found to have a thick mortar floor. In the retentura, under peat, a large collection of leather, including shoes and pieces of clothing, was found in 1968. There were also iron smelting fires. A parade ground was constructed by cutting and filling with enormous boulders, NE of the fort. The bath house lies to the S, a single row of three rooms with a tiled flue at one end and the remains of a hypocaust in two rooms. The third room, a combined apodyterium and frigidarium, had a small plunge bath. Beside this with a separate entrance is a circular laconicum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. G. Collingwood, “Hardknott Castle,” Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Arch. Soc. ser. 2, 28 (1928) 314-52; D. Charlesworth, “The granaries at Hardknott Castle,” ibid. 63 (1963) 148-55; R. P. Wright, “Hadrianic building inscription from Hardknott,” ibid. 65 (1965) 169-75.
D. CHARLESWORTH