Roman Ribchester
At the time of the Roman invasion of Brittania, by Julius Caesar
in 55BC, there were several groups controlling Northern England
and Scotland including the Votadini, the Selgovae, the Novantae
and the Damnonii. The Brigantes held Lancashire as well as
County Durham, Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. John
Burke in Roman England says:
According to the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy, the
Brigantian confederation held sway across Northern England "from
sea to sea". There are conflicting opinions about the
composition of this league of clans, and conflicting evidence
from coins; but it seems that a predominantly Celtic aristocracy
had imposed itself upon earlier settlers and sought to unite them
in a miniature nation.
Two of the most powerful leaders were female - Boudicca of the
Iceni and Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes and John
Burke in Roman England says:
When Caratacus, after seven years of sporadic raiding
from within Wales, was at last defeated in a major battle and
made his way into the Pennines to seek an alliance with
Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, he found that her alliance
was still with the Empire: she handed him over in chains.
Burke continues:
Apart from this, Celtic beliefs relating to the
forces of nature were not too different from their own. .. In
the north, Brigantia was elevated to major cult status with
additional Roman trappings such as Minerva's spear and shield,
and the wings of victory.
There is a picture in the
book of a Romanized relief of Brigantia with Minerva's spear and
the wings of victory which is in the National Museum of
Antiquities, (Scotland?).
The Romans built a fort at Ribchester or Ribelcastre in the
Domesday Book, and called it Bremetennacum. It was a large fort
with granaries and covered about six acres. F.H.Cheetham
FSA in his Lancashire describes some of the
early archaelogical efforts:
...relics of the Roman occupation have been recorded
from time to time in the vicinity of the churchyard since the
16th cent., but until 1888, when the Rev. J. Shortt began the
work, no systematic excavation of the site had ever been
attempted. Since then Prof. John Garstang (1898), Mr. Thos. May
(1906-08), and Profs. Anderson and Atkinson (1911), have
continued the investigation of the site... The later excavations
have been carried out by a Committee of the Manchester Branch of
the Classical Association. ... many of the buildings which lined
the W. side of the Via Principalis have been explored. "Along the
roadway were found, first the flanking towers of the (N.)
gateway, then two long and very narrow buildings which served as
granaries, a third long building which may have been the armoury
of the fort, or the barracks of some special troop, and finally
the central buildings" forming the Praetorium... The earliest
inscription yet found is c. 161-169 A.D. on a slab set up between
the camp and the river by a detachment of the Sixth Legion from
York, and the reign of Caracalla (A.D. 211) furnishes two
inscriptions one on an altar and the other betokening the
restoration of a temple. ....may have been occupied to 410.
Arthurnet is an excellent resource. In the Arthurnet
Mailing List Archives there are several references to the
presence of the Sarmatians at Ribchester - Bremetennacum
Veteranorum. The Arthurnet Archives reveal the
dialog. These horsemen came
from Russia, by the Danube just north of the Black sea, and
fought at Hadrian's wall. There is discussion in the logs as to
whether the Sarmatians left any "evidence" of their presence.
Another reference to them is contained in the footnotes of
Notes on Merlin.
A contingent of 5,500 Sarmatians, close ethnic
cousins of the Alans, was sent by Marcus Aurelius to northern
Britain in 175 C.E. to garrison Hadrian's Wall. When these
auxiliary cataphracti (heavy cavalrymen) retired from duty they
were settled near the Lancashire village of Ribchester, known in
Roman times as Bremetennacum Veteranorum (Littleton and Malcor
1994, 18-26, 300-303). See also Richmond (1945), Sulimirski
(1970, 173-174), and Edwards and Webster (1985-1987).
Several books on Roman Britain have a picture of a
silvered parade helmet used for ceremonial occassions that was
recovered from Ribchester. Its crown carries embossed battle
scenes and there are relief figures on the thin visor-mask. It
can be seen in the British Museum. A
bronze reconstruction of the helmet has been made and can be
seen at the Museum of Antiquities in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Peter Salway in
The Frontier People of Roman Britain states,
.. the Sarmatians of Ribchester (cf. Journal of Roman
Studies, London XXXV, 15ff) who seem to have been an unusual
group, settled "en bloc" under a special officer. Richmond
indicates that there is considerable evidence.. that these semi-
barbarians did not receive the citizenship on discharge and were
quite unlike ordinary veterans.
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