Roman Antiquities - Cumbrian Coast

Glannaventa Bath House - "Walls Castle"

Located at the start of Hadrian's Cycleway at Ravenglass.
From AD 78 through the 3rd century, one thousand Roman soldiers occupied Ravenglass. It was an important naval base for the Romans in the 2nd century, and the southernmost extremity of the coastal defences - serving as an important naval base, command centre and supply distribution point for the occupation of the northwest of England.

Little remains today of the Roman fort, called Glannaventa, except for the Bath House, known incongruously as Walls Castle.

The structure, measuring 40 by 90 feet, with walls over 12 feet high, is one of the highest standing of Roman remains in England.

Maryport - "Alauna"

Aerial View

Located close to Hadrian's Cycleway on the cliff above the promenade at Maryport.
The site of the Roman fort of Alauna was chosen to guard the western flank of Hadrian's Wall against any barbarian raiders in Scotland who might choose a seabourne route into the Roman province of Britannia.

It was part of a system guarding the coastline which extended with watchtowers all the way from the western end of Hadrian's Wall at Bowness on Solway down the coastline to Ravengalass in the county of Cumbria.

Alauna was a huge fort - one of the biggest on Hadrian's frontier and was the command headquarters of the coastal patrol and Legionary signal corps. It was built for 1000 soldiers, and imported supplies for Hadrian's Wall and the city of Carlisle, and handled a large export trade from mines, quarries, forests and farms. The Fort was used for around 280 years.
Today the fort's remains include a square array of earthen bulwarks near to Senhouse Museum.

Senhouse Museum and replica Roman Watchtower

Located on Hadrian's Cycleway on the cliff top above the promenade at Maryport.
This museum contains the largest grouping of Roman military altar stones and inscriptions from any site in Britain and unique examples of Celtic religious sculpture.

The collection, begun by John Senhouse of Netherhall in the 1570's is the oldest in Britain and is of international importance.Over the centuries other members of my family kept adding to the collection. The things in the collection - the artefacts- are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which give us a picture of the lives and ideas of people who lived in Alauna (now Maryport) nearly 2,000 years ago. Most of the Senhouse family's collection comes from the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.The museum building was built by the Navy in 1885 as a Naval Artillery Reserve Drill Hall. The Battery dominates the narrow strip of land between the front of the Roman Fort, and the edge of the Sea Brows 180 feet above the shore north of Maryport. The red sandstone masonry came mainly from nearby fields and shows Roman workmanship. The rest came from local quarries.

The 1966 military cuts, ended its life as a Naval building. It was saved from demolition by the efforts of Maryport people and converted for use to house the Senhouse Collection.

Located on Hadrian's Cycleway.
Just south of Allonby are Milefortlet 21 and the Saltpans of Crosscanonby.

Milefortlet 21, the first total excavation of a milefortlet, and a designated World Heritage Site, reveals a wealth of information about the lifestyle of Roman troops in Britain.

One of a chain of evenly spaced mileforts, it was part of the coastal system of defences, between Bowness and Ravenglass.

Close by are the remains of the Elizabethan salt pans. For nearly 700 years, salt was made from seawater along the Cumbrian coast, and the Crosscanonby site is a remarkably well-preserved example of this tradition.