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roman fort, Old Penrith
Voreda
locality:-   Old Penrith
locality:-   Plumpton Wall
locality:-   Plumpton
civil parish:-   Hesket (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   roman fort
coordinates:-   NY49333846
1Km square:-   NY4938
10Km square:-   NY43


photograph
Click to enlarge
BQF35.jpg (taken 11.3.2009)  
photograph
BQF34.jpg (taken 11.3.2009)  

evidence:-   perhaps old map:- Stukeley 1723
placename:-  Castlesteds
placename:-  Glanoventa
source data:-   Road map, uncoloured engraving, the Antonine Itineraries through Britain, scale about 55 miles to 1 inch, plotted by William Stukeley, 1723, published London, 1724.
image  click to enlarge
Stu1Cm.jpg
"Glanoventa / Castlesteds"
item:-  Hampshire Museums : FA2001.171
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Donald 1774 (Cmd) 
placename:-  Petriana
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, 3x2 sheets, The County of Cumberland, scale about 1 inch to 1 mile, by Thomas Donald, engraved and published by Joseph Hodskinson, 29 Arundel Street, Strand, London, 1774.
image
D4NY43NE.jpg
"Petriana"
square within a square; roman fort 
item:-  Carlisle Library : Map 2
Image © Carlisle Library

evidence:-   old map:- Pennant 1777
placename:-  Voreda
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, A Map of Scotland, Hebrides and Part of England, drawn for Thomas Pennant, engraved by J Bayly, published by Benjamin White, London, 1777.
image  click to enlarge
PEN1Cm.jpg
"VOREDA / Penrith"
circle; buildings, village, etc 
item:-  private collection : 66
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old text:- Clarke 1787
placename:-  Ala Petriana
placename:-  Old Penrith
placename:-  Camlic Fort
source data:-   Guide book, A Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire, written and published by James Clarke, Penrith, Cumberland, and in London etc, 1787; published 1787-93.
image CL13P016, button  goto source
Page 16:-  "... ruins of the Ala Petriana which Horsley and others call Old Penrith; for Ala Petriana, or Camlic Fort, is at the distance of five miles; ..."

evidence:-   old text:- Clarke 1787
placename:-  Ala Petriana
placename:-  Bremeternacum
placename:-  Old Penrith
source data:-   Guide book, A Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire, written and published by James Clarke, Penrith, Cumberland, and in London etc, 1787; published 1787-93.
image CL13P050, button  goto source
Page 50:-  "..."
"... on the banks of which [River Petteril], five miles below Penrith, is the Ala Petriana of the Romans, by Nicholson called Bremeternacum, by some called Old Penrith."
"From this place, the remains of a Roman road may easily at this day be traced ..."

evidence:-   old text:- Camden 1789 (Gough Additions) 
placename:-  Petriana
placename:-  Bremetenracum
placename:-  Berida
placename:-  Castle Steeds
placename:-  Old Castle, The
item:-  Notitia DignitatumRavenna Cosmographyroman inscriptioninscription, roman
source data:-   Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.
image CAM2P189, button  goto source
Page 189:-  "..."
"The rev. Mr. Robert Patten of Carlisle or Penrith, who had been in Denmark and at Tunis, writes thus to Mr. Horsley, Jan. 30, 1730/1:"
""... The old castle [Old Penrith], as the country people call it, is 130 yards in front, a visible entry exactly in the middle, with a large foss on all sides, the breadth 80 yards. This is what Camden calls Petriana, from the small river Peterel that runs under it. ..."
image CAM2P190, button  goto source
Page 190:-  "..."
"Horsley places VOREDA, Ant. Bremetenracum Not. Berida of Ravennas, at Old Penrith, and removes PETRIANA to Cambeck fort or Castle steeds. The remains of the outbuildings and station are very considerable; the fort above six chains (132 yards) long, and five broad, containing about three acres. Plumton wall is the village near it, and the house nearest the station the Lough. The station, now called Castle steeds, lies about 200 yards east from the Peterel, the ramparts high, and the ditch pretty perfect; the entrances all visible in the middle of the sides, the praetorium appears near the north rampart, and great ruins of a town are on the west side next the river. The east and west ramparts of the station measure 140 yards, and the north and south 120. ... All the inscriptions which Mr. Camden saw here are lost. Gadenius on the first has been reckoned among our northern tutelar deities by Mr. Burton, but Mr. Horsley thinks it the name of a deceased person, for whom Ulpius Trajanus Martius erected this monument. If the Gadeni were here, might he not be a Gadenian? The 3d may be read, Dis manibus, Flavio Martio senatori (or seniori) in colonia or civitate (or cohorti) Carvetiorum quaestori taking the o after this word for a stop) vixit annos 45, &c. TIT. in the 4th is titulus, a word that occurs in Gruter frequently for a monumental stone. In the 2d AICCETUOS and LATTIE are nominative cases of the names of a mother and daughter. Gruter has L. Atilio incorrectly. Woodford's MS. gives one like the conclusion of this"
"C. LIMISIVS
CHARISSIMAE CONIVGI ET PIEN
TISS. FILIAE...... POSVIT
VXOR VIXIT ANNOS XXXX
FILIA XX,"
"Since Mr. Camden's time the inscription in Pl.X. fig.4 has been found at Lough, and placed in the garden of Dr. Fleming, dean of Carlisle, at Great Salkeld, broken in three pieces and part lost. It is the second among us in honour of Alexander Severus and his mother Mammaea here called Mater Castrorum, as other empresses on other inscriptions and the whole imperial family. An altar to Jupiter. Another to Mogon, the local deity of the Gadeni, and a similar altar, but plain, and two other carved stones. An inscription to Jupiter and the emperors of the name of Philips."
"At Plumpton, the antient Voreda or Petriana, near Penrith, was found an altar, inscribed, Deo Sancto Belatuca aram in the possession of capt. Dalston."
"Browne Willis communicated to the Society of Antiquaries 1747, a stone with a bust and this inscription:"
"D. M.
GEMELLI. C. A
FL. HLARO. S. H. F. C."
"found at Castle Steeds near the great fort Petriana. Mr. Ward, reads it D. M. Gemelli Caius Aurelius Flavius Hilario sepulcrum hoc fieri curavit. Gemellus occurs at Binchester, Horsl. Durh. xxix. and Hilario in Gruter, and the head he supposes Pluto. Libert being before Hilario in Gruter, he thinks this may be Flavius libertus."

evidence:-   old text:- Camden 1789
placename:-  Old Penrith
placename:-  Petrianae
item:-  roman inscriptioninscription, romanroman altaraltar, roman
source data:-   Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.
image CAM2P173, button  goto source
Page 173:-  "..."
"... I saw the great remains of a ruined town, which they, from its neighbourhood, called Old Perith, and I should think PETRIANAE. That the Ala Petriana was here appears from a fragment of an old inscription erected by Ulpius Trajanus, a veteran of the Ala Petriana, which, together with others that I copied here, I have subjoined:"
"D.M.
AICETVOS MATER
VIXIT A [*] XXXXV
ET LATTIO FIL. VIX
A XII. LIMISIVS
CONIV. ET FILIAE
PIENTISSIMIS
POSVIT."
image CAM2P174, button  goto source
Page 174:-  ".........
GADVNO
VLP. TRAI
EM. AL. PET
MARTIVS
[*] F. P. C."
"D. M.
FL. MARTIO SEN.
IN [*] C. CARVETIOR
QUESTORIO
VIXIT AN XXXXV
MARTIOLA FILIA ET
HERES PONEN
[*]...... CVRAVIT"
"D.M. CROTILO GERMANVS VIX
ANIS XXVI GRECA VIX ANIS IIII
VIND[ ]CIANVS [*] FRA. ET FIL. TIT. PO."

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag
item:-  inscription, romanroman inscriptionroman altar
source data:-   Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.
image G7901092, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1790 p.1092  "Explanation of a Roman Altar. ..."
"Mr. URBAN,"
"OBSERVING in your Magazine for last month an engraving of the Roman Altar found at Plimpton Wall, in Cumberland (which altar, in the year 1786, was in the possession of a Mr. Sanderson, though now said to have been recently purchased by one Hutton, a guide to the lakes), and your correspondent Peregrinator requesting an explanation of the inscription, I beg leave, by the same channel, to submit the following to the consideration of your readers."
"DEO
MARYI
BELAIVCAD
ROEIN[UM]I
NIBAYCC
IVLIVSAV
GVSTALIS
ACIORIVLLV
PIPRET"
"Deo
Marti
Belatucad
ro et Numi
nib(us) Augg(ustorum)
Julius Au
gustalis
Actor Jul(ii) Lu
pi Pref(ecti posuit.)"
"To the God
Mars Belatucader
and the Deities
of the Emperors(Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius
Verus; or more probably
Severus and Caracalla,
or Caracalla and Geta)
Julius Augustalis
Agent of Juliuis Lupus
the Prefect hath placed
or dedicated."
"From the foregoing inscription, which, from a gentleman's account of it who has accurately viewed it, is perfectly fair and legible, and the stone between the words Marti and Belatucadro no way injured or mutilated, so as to admit of a conjecture of there ever having been a fuller reading; it seems to me, that the term Belatucader must thereby decidedly applied to mean the same with, and synonymous to, that of Mars, or one and the same deity under two different denominations, about which there has heretofore been great contrariety of opinion among the Learned, whether that appellation belonged to Mars or Apollo. May not the inscription on this altar serve, therefore, to settle such difference of opinion, by adducing it as evidence in confirmation of its conveying those different names of the same deity in stronger and unequivocal terms? All altars dedicated to the god Belatucader, which probably might be the British or other well-known local names for, and of the same import with, the Roman Mars, have been very rare and uncommon, and are not hitherto known to have been found except in Cumberland and Westmoreland,"
"FRED. S. SCARISBING."

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag
placename:-  Petriana
item:-  roman altarHutton's Museum, Keswick
source data:-   Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.
image G790Eng1, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1790 opp p.983 
image  click to enlarge
G790E01.jpg

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag 1790
source data:-   image G7900982, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1790 p.982  "Feb. 10."
"Mr. URBAN,"
"BEING at Keswick in the course of last autumn, I went to inspect the natural and artificial curiosities which have been collected by Crosthwaite and Hutton, (Guides to the Lakes,) and which form their separate museums. - At the house of the latter I observed a Roman altar, which, he informed me, he had recently purchased. It is about a year since it was observed in Cumberland, at Plimpton wall, upon the remains of the fort Petriana, now called Castle Steeds."
"In an abstract which Hutton shewed me from West's Guide to the Lakes, this spot is thus described, p.149:"
""The Castrum is 168 paces from South to North, but 110 within the Foss, which was also surrounded by a stone wall: the stones have been removed to the fence wall, and the fence side, being in Plimpton, is called Plimpton wall. The station is a vast heap of ruins of stone buildings, the walls of great thickness, and cemented. The town has surrounded the station, except on the side of the Pitteral.""

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag 1790
source data:-   image G7900983, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1790 p.983  "These remains are mentioned in Gibson's Camden,2d. edit. vol.II. p.1020; where several inscriptions are recorded."
"Considering that a sketch of the above altar might prove acceptable, I have ventured to send you a rough drawing, in which I have however endeavoured to give a faithful representation of the altar, and, as near as I could, the shape of the letters, which are cut but faintly and rudely, being in every part of equal thickness. See Plate III. fig. I."
"The altar is formed of sand-stone, similar to that which abounds in the neighbourhood of Penrith; and, as near as I could guess (for I had no means of measuring it), is about three feet in height, and about fifteen inches across the face, without any other ornament than what is shewn in the upper parts."
"I hope some of your ingenious correspondents will favour your readers with an explanation of the inscription."
"Yours, &c."
"PEREGRINATOR."
"*We are obliged to J.B. for his copy of the above inscription, and chearfully accept his offer of sending us some others which have never been published."

evidence:-   old text:- Capper 1808
source data:-   Gazetteer, A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom, compiled by Benjamin Pitts Capper, published by Richard Phillips, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, 1808; published 1808-29.
image CAP138, button  goto source
"..."
"PENRITH OLD, a hamlet in the parish of Lazonby, in Leath ward, Cumberland, 5 miles north of Penrith. The remains of its ancient buildings are very considerable, and it is supposed to have been a Roman station, and a very extensive town before the growth of New Penrith."
"..."

evidence:-   descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
placename:-  Old Penrith
placename:-  Bremetereracum
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
image FD01P174, button  goto source
Page 174:-  "..."
"Plumpton.- On the left are the ruins of Old Penrith, formerly a Roman station, traces of which still remain. It was 170 yards from south to north, and 110 from east to west. The station is about 200 yards from the river Petteril. The ramparts are still high, and the ditch very visible. Horsley supposes it to have been Bremetereracum."

evidence:-   old map:- Ford 1839 map
placename:-  Voreda
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District of Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, and by R Groombridge, 5 Paternoster Row, London, 3rd edn 1843.
image
FD02NY43.jpg
"Voreda"
item:-  JandMN : 100.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag
item:-  inscription, romanroman inscription
source data:-   Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.
image G860A346, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1860 part 1 p.346  "..."
"In Camden's day a stone - which was lost before Horsley's time - had an inscription, which has been thus read by Horsley:-"
"... ... ...
GADVNOVLP[IVS] TRAI[ANVS]
EM[ERITVS] AL[AE] PET[RIANAE]
MARTIVS
F[ACIENDVM] P[RO] O[VRAVIT]."
"'Ulpius Trajanus Martius, a veteran of the Petriana cavalry, caused this to be erected to (the memory of) Gadnus.'"
"This stone was found at Old Penrith."
"..."

evidence:-   text:- Rivet and Smith 1979
placename:-  Voreda
placename:-  Bereda
source data:-   The roman fort at Old Penrith, Plumpton Wall, Cumberland, by the River Petteril. 


photograph
BJU06.jpg  Roman altar, perhaps from Voreda, in the porch of St Cuthbert, Great Salkeld.
(taken 26.8.2005)  


photograph
BOX04.jpg  From Hutchinson 1794 map 2.
"BREMETENRACUM now Old Penrith"  

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