Roman Ruins- Castlefield Roman Fort & Environs-Manchester.

Visited August 2024.

On a mini trip with dad to the Science and Industry Museum, we walked through the Roman Fort, well what is left and been rebuilt of it.

I always saw it from the train window, so finally I was at ground level to visit.

Manchester City Council says;

‘Roman soldiers, led by General Agricola, marched into the north-west of England in 79AD. For strategic reasons they selected the Castlefield location for a fort, called Mamucium, which they built on a rocky outcrop protected by the Rivers Irwell and Medlock. This is the first definite record of human settlement in Manchester.

The original timber fort was rebuilt and enlarged, and later rebuilt again, this time in stone. A village (called a 'vicus') grew up nearby to supply the needs of the soldiers, but after the Romans left (circa 410AD) it declined and was abandoned.

In later years the new village of Manchester was established a kilometre to the north-east, in what is now known as the Cathedral Conservation Area.

The site of the vicus became known as Aldport or The Old Town. A house and park in Aldport became the home of the Mosley family in 1601. Aldport Lodge, as it was known, was used by Lord Strange in 1642 as the Royalist headquarters during the Siege of Manchester. It was burned down by the victorious Parliamentarians.’

More Civil war stuff! You can read about the Siege of Manchester HERE.

Excavations took place in the 1980’s by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit. The north gate was reconstructed in 1984 and incorporates a section of original Roman stone. SOURCE.

A thoroughly lovely trip and made more special that I was with Dad.

Go HERE to learn more and to walk the Castlefield trail.