Caerhun
About
This fort guarded the tidal crossing of the River Conwy on the road linking the legionary bases at Chester and Caernarfon. Troops built it around 80 CE and held it in some form for more than three centuries, with coin evidence running to the late fourth century. Around 196 CE its well was deliberately filled in, hinting the garrison briefly marched away before returning. The rectangular earthwork outline survives beside St Mary's Church in the modern village.
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.
In ancient writing
- Antonine Itinerary, Antonine Itinerary Iter XI
Lists Conovio (Canovium/Caerhun) as the first station, 24 miles from Segontium, on the road from Segontium to Deva.
Sources
Nearby
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