OSMap: LR120, Ex28(270).
Type: Vexillation Fortress, nearby Marching Camps.
Plan of the Large Fort at Osmanthorpe
from The Coritani by Malcolm Todd (fig.8, p.34).
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NGRef: SK6756 OSMap: LR120, Ex28(270). Type: Vexillation Fortress, nearby Marching Camps. |
Plan of the Large Fort at Osmanthorpe from The Coritani by Malcolm Todd (fig.8, p.34). |
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See AD PONTEM (7 miles SE) | |
This 20 acre (ha) 'vexillation fortress' was probably garrisoned by a detachment of Legio IX Hispana or (less-likely) Legio XIV Gemina, and may very likely be attributed to the campaigns of the aged but much-honoured governor Aulus Didius Gallus between AD52 and 57. It was during the tenure of this man that the episode of Brigantian power-politics narrated by Tacitus (Annals XII.xl) resulted in the uprising of Venutius the consort of Queen Cartimandua, which was of such a serious nature that the aged Queen had to be rescued by a task force sent by Gallus.
"... Some [auxiliary] cohorts were sent to her aid and a sharp contest followed, which was at first doubtful but had a satisfactory termination. The legion under the command of Caesius Nasica fought with a similar result. ..." (Tacitus Annales XII.xl)
There is a marching camp a couple of miles to the west at Farnsfield (SK6355), and two more camps, a smaller one with tituli on all four gateways is set wholly within the defences of a larger, perhaps earlier camp about five miles south-west at Calverton (SK6150). There is another camp about 12 miles to the north-west at Gleadthorpe Plantation (SK5970), and one more about 10 miles to the east, on the east bank of the River Trent at Holme (SK8159), which itself lies only 2 miles to the west of the Fosse Way settlement at Crococalana (Brough). All of these sites lie in the county of Nottinghamshire.
| Name | N.G.Ref. | Size | Area | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calverton I | SK615508 | 920 x 935 ft (280 x 285+ m) | 26 acres (12.5ha) | |
| Calverton II | SK615508 | 490 x 380 ft (c.150 x 115 m) | 4 acres (1.7ha) | |
| Farnsfield | SK638557 | 690 x 600 ft (c.210 x 184 m) | 9½ acres (3.9ha) | |
| Gleadthorpe | SK594703 | 670 x 530 ft (204 x 162 m) | c.8 acres (3.3ha) | |
| Holme | SK810591 | 1,345 x 790 ft (410 x c.240 m) | 23+ acres (9.3+ha) |
Also about 10 miles to the north-west nearby the marching camp at Gleadthorpe is a Roman villa lying close to the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border at Northfield (SK5264) outside Mansfield Woodhouse, where a damaged Roman inscription was unearthed (vide RIB 276).
