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Gentleman's Magazine 1907 part 1 p.174
list, road ends at Ravenglass, a tiny village now, but in
those far-off days an important military port where very
likely troops were landed for the great headqtrs of the
Roman army at York. It is conjectured that this camp is
identicial with Maia, a station whose situation is judged to
probably to be in south-west Cumberland. Of the actual
history of the camp little is known. It is mentioned by
Camden, who suggests that though it may be a castle, it is
possibly the remains of some church or chapel. It is also
mentioned in "Hutchinson's History of Cumberland," and other
works, but it was not systematically explored till 1889,
when Mr. H. Swainson-Cowper, F.S.A., began the work of
excavation by clearing the north tower. Sir Herbert Maxwell,
in 1890 and 1891, continued the work thus begun, and a
regular system of continuous operations was adopted in 1892
by the late Rev. W. S. Calverly, F.S.A., with Mr. Dymond,
F.S.A., as engineer and surveyor.
They found much of great interest, tracing out the shape of
the fort and determining its materials, and the relics
enshrouded by its debris.
The fort itself is almosts square in shape with four gates
and a tower at each angle, N., S., E. and W., each being
about twelve feet square. The north tower is the highest of
these, and commands a magnificent view up the valley of the
Upper Esk away to Sca Fell, and also down to the sea, in
which on clear days the Isle of Man is visible.
The walls were originally built of the granite stone of the
neighbourhood, but the angles were made of dressed red
sandstone, which must have been brought from at least ten or
eleven miles away. Mortar was used; it can be seen in the
walls if carefully looked for. The walls were about five
feet in thickness.
The porta principalis sinistra (the gate on the
north-east side) has a road which leads to the Parade
Ground, some six hundred feet beyond the fort. The Parade
Ground is nearly three acres in extent; the boulders have
been cleared away, and it has been roughly levelled for the
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