Slack
About
This fort near modern Huddersfield was built around 80 CE along the road linking the legionary fortresses of Chester and York. It held its garrison at full strength through Trajan's reign before troop numbers were reduced sometime around 122 to 125 CE. The army abandoned the fort entirely within a few decades, sometime between 140 and 160 CE, though its civilian vicus lingered on for generations. Ancient writers recorded the site's name, Cambodunum, in the Antonine Itinerary road survey.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →