Mamucium, also known as Mancunium, is a former Roman fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester in North West England. The Castra, which was founded c. AD 79 within the Roman province of Roman Britain,
The ruins were left undisturbed until Manchester expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century. Most of the fort was levelled to make way for new developments such as the construction of the Rochdale Canal and the Great Northern Railway. The site is now part of the Castlefield Urban Heritage Park that includes renovated warehouses. A section of the fort's wall along with its gatehouse, granaries, and other ancillary buildings from the vicus have been reconstructed and are open to the public.
Toponymy
Mamucium is generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original
Common Brittonic name, either from
mamm- ("
breast", in reference to a "
breast-like hill")
[Hylton (2003), p. 6.] or from
mamma ("mother", in reference to a
River Medlock Celtic mythology). Both meanings are preserved in modern
Celtic languages,
mam meaning "mother" in
Welsh language.
[The Antiquaries Journal (ISSN 0003-5815) 2004, vol. 84, pp. 353–357] The
neuter gender suffix -ium is used in
Latin placenames, particularly those representing
Common Brittonic -ion (a
genitive case suffix denoting "place or city of ~"). The
Welsh placenames for Manchester is
Manceinion]]. It appears that William Baxter invented this name in his ‘Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum’ (1719) as a back-formation based on ‘Mancunium’. ‘Historia Brittonum’ (828-29) lists ‘Cair Maunguid’ (fort of the peat trees) and it has been suggested that this might be the authentic Welsh name for ‘Manchester’. In Modern Welsh, it would have been ‘*Caerfawnwydd’. It should be stressed that the ancient name is unknown. However, if one is correct to equate the 9th-century name with ‘Manchester’, the Proto-Celtic name would have been ‘*Māniwidion’. Roman authorities give both Mancunium and Mamucium, but it is not clear that either form is correct. Possibly neither is and they might be scribal errors for ‘*Maniuidium’.
Location
The Romans built the fort on a naturally defensible
sandstone Cliff that overlooked a nearby crossing over the
River Medlock.
[Gregory (2007), p. 1.] The area became an important junction for at least two major military roads through this part of the country. One highway ran east to west between the
Roman legion fortresses of
Deva Victrix (Chester) and
Eboracum (York) the other ran north to
Bremetennacum (
Ribchester).
[Gregory (2007), pp. 1–2.] In addition, Mamucium may also have overlooked a lesser road running north west to
Coccium (
Wigan).
[Gregory (2007), p. 2.] The fort was one of a chain of fortifications along the Eboracum to Deva Victrix road, with Castleshaw Roman fort lying to the east,
[Walker (1999), p. 15.] and Condate (
Northwich) to the west. Stamps on tegulae indicate that Mamucium had administrative links not only with Castleshaw, but also with Ardotalia, the nearest fort (12 miles), Slack and
Ebchester; all the forts probably got the tegulae from the same place in Grimescar Wood near
Huddersfield.
[Walker (1999), p. 78.]
History
Prehistoric
There is no evidence that a prehistoric settlement occupied the site before the arrival of the Romans. However,
Stone Age activity has been recorded in the area. Two
Mesolithic flint tool and a flint
lithic flake as well as a
Neolithic scraper have been discovered. A shard of late
Bronze Age pottery has also been found
in situ.
[Gregory (2007), p. 181.] In 1772 during work to widen a canal a D-shaped gold bulla was dredged from the River Irwell; this item was subsequently lost but detailed drawings survive which show it to have been very similar to the late
Bronze Age Shropshire bulla found in 2018.
[ Current Archaeology
]
Although the area was in the territory of the
Celts tribe
Brigantes, it may have been under the control of the
Setantii, a sub-tribe of the Brigantes, when the Romans took control from the ancient
.
[Kidd (1996), p. 12.]
Roman
Construction of Mamucium started around AD 79
[Gregory (2007), p. 3.] during the campaigns of General Julius Agricola against the Brigantes after a
treaty failed.
[Mason (2001), pp. 41–42.] Excavations show the fort had three main phases of construction: first AD 79, second around AD 160, and third in AD 200.
The first phase of the fort was built from turf and timber.
Mamucium's dimensions indicate it was to be garrisoned by a cohort, about 500 infantry. These troops were not
but foreign auxiliaries who had joined the
Roman army.
[ Retrieved on 20 July 2008.] By the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, a civilian settlement (called a
vicus) had grown up around the fort.
[Gregory (2007), pp. 22, 156.] Around AD 90, the fort's
defensive wall were strengthened.
This might be because Mamucium and the Roman fort at Slack – which neighboured Castleshaw – superseded the fort at Castleshaw in the 120s.
[Nevell and Redhead (2005), p. 59.] Mamucium was demolished some time around AD 140.
Although the first
vicus grew rapidly in the early 2nd century,
[Gregory (2007), p. 183.] it was abandoned some time between 120 and 160 – broadly coinciding with the demolition of the fort – before it was re-inhabited when the fort was rebuilt.
[Gregory (2007), p. 190.]
The second phase was built around the year 160. Although it was again of turf and timber construction, it was larger than the previous fort, measuring to accommodate extra granaries ( Horreum).[Philpott (2006), p. 66.] Around 200, the gatehouses of the fort were rebuilt in stone and the walls surrounding the fort were given a stone facing.[Shotter (2004), p. 117.] which would have been the first in Manchester. Mamucium was included in the Antonine Itinerary, a 3rd-century register of roads throughout the Roman Empire.[Shotter (2004), p. 40.] This and inscriptions on and repairs to buildings indicate that Mamucium was still in use in the first half of the 3rd century.[Shotter (2004), p. 153.] The vicus may have been abandoned by the mid-3rd century; this is supported by the excavated remains of some buildings that were demolished and the materials robbed for use elsewhere.
A temple to Mithras is possibly associated with the civilian settlement[ Retrieved on 20 July 2008.] The County Archaeologist said
As well as Pagan worship, there is also evidence of early Christian worship. In the 1970s, a fragment of 2nd-century sator square was discovered with an anagram of PATER NOSTER.[ Shotter (2004), p. 129.] There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square", which is carved on a piece of amphora, is actually a Christian artefact, if so, it is one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain.[Shotter (2004), pp. 129–130.]
Medieval
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410, the area of Mamucium was used for agricultural purposes.
It has sometimes been identified with the
[Nennius (). Theodor Mommsen (). Composed after AD 830. Hosted at .] listed among the 28
civitas of Britain by the
History of the Britons traditionally attributed to
Nennius.
[Ford, David Nash. " The 28 Cities of Britain " at Britannia. 2000.][Newman, John Henry & al. Lives of the English Saints: St. German, Bishop of Auxerre, Ch. X: "Britain in 429, A. D.", p. 92. James Toovey (London), 1844.]
16th–18th centuries
After lying derelict for centuries, the ruins were commented on by
John Leland in the 16th century,
William Camden in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and
William Stukeley and the Manchester historian John Whitaker in the 18th century. In the early 18th century, John Horsley said:
Whitaker described what remained of the fort in 1773:
Industrial Revolution
Mamucium was levelled as Manchester expanded in the Industrial Revolution. The construction of the Rochdale Canal through the south western corner of the fort in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the building of viaducts for the Great Northern Railway over the site in the late 19th century, damaged the remains and even destroyed some of the southern half of the fort.
When the railway viaducts were built,
Charles Roeder documented the remains that were uncovered in the process, including parts of the
vicus.
Mills were all around the site. Castlefield became the south west corner of Manchester city centre.
, which developed into the main thoroughfare, follows the general line of Roman road to Ribchester.
20th century
The first archaeological investigation of Mamucium was in 1906. Francis Bruton, who would later work on the Roman fort at
Castleshaw, excavated the fort's western defences.
A series of small-scale excavations were undertaken intermittently between 1912 and 1967, generally exploring the northern defences of the fort.
[ Retrieved on 18 July 2008.] In the mid-20th century, historian A. J. P. Taylor called the surviving stretch of Roman wall "the least interesting Roman remains in Britain".
[Nevell (2008), p. 19.] The first excavation of the
vicus was carried out in the 1970s under
Barri Jones.
In 1982 the fort, along with the rest of the Castlefield area, became the United Kingdom's first Urban heritage park,
[Woodside et al. (2004), p. 286.] and partial reconstructions of the forts walls, including the ramparts and gateways, were opened in 1984.
In 2001–05 the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit carried out excavations in the
vicus to further investigate the site before the area underwent any more regeneration or reconstruction.
The archaeological investigation of Mamucium Roman fort and its associated civilian settlement has, so far, provided approximately 10,000 artefacts.
Layout
The fort measured by and was surrounded by a double ditch and wooden rampart. Around AD 200 the wooden rampart was replaced by stone ramparts,
[Hylton (2003), p. 2.] measuring between and thick.
[Hylton (2003), p. 4.] The
vicus associated with Mamucium surrounded the site on the west, north, and east sides, with the majority lying to the north. The
vicus covered about and the fort about .
Buildings within the
vicus would have generally been one storey,
timber framing, and of wattle and daub construction.
There may have been a cemetery to the south east of the fort.
Templeborough in Yorkshire was rebuilt in stone in the 2nd century and covered an area of ,
See also
-
History of Manchester
-
Scheduled Monuments in Greater Manchester
Bibliography
