Excavations at Roman Site in Yorkshire Reveal Ancient Fortifications

The village of Brough in the county of East Riding in eastern Yorkshire has an amazing history. In the early first millennium AD it was the site of a Roman settlement known as Petuaria, which was built at the southern end of a long Roman road and protected by formidable stone walls. Archaeologists have been exploring this fascinating site for quite some time, and during recent excavations they unearthed evidence that a defensive tower or bastion was added to the fortifications at some point in the late third century. What was created was a massive edifice that would have helped make Petuaria a difficult place to attack. 

A Far Bastion of Rome 

At this time in history, the territory of Roman Britain was engulfed in turmoil. The land of modern-day Yorkshire was actually incorporated into a rebel or breakaway state, which had been established independently from the Roman Empire in the year 286 AD. Presumably, the pre-existing fortifications at Petuaria were enhanced by the addition of the tower to protect the breakaway empire from the forces of the Roman Empire, which the leaders of the newly formed state certainly knew would be coming to suppress the rebellion eventually. 

There is no way to tell just how effective the enhanced fortifications at Petuaria might have been. But in 296 the Roman Emperor Constantius did manage to quash the rebellion and bring all of Britain back under Roman Empire control, despite the actions taken by the breakaway state’s leaders to defend their newly formed realm. 

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Photo showing the context layers along the rampart. (Petuaria ReVisited) 

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Brough, or Petuaria, was the tribal capital of the Celtic Parisi people, who occupied the lands of eastern Yorkshire during the Roman era. It was also an ideal site for a Roman settlement, being located on the northern banks of the Humber, where goods and people could be easily transported up or down river. 

The Romans clearly saw Petuaria as a site that needed defending. It was in the 1930s that the walls surrounding the settlement were first discovered, and amazingly nine decades later archaeologists are still learning more about the construction of these ancient Roman fortifications.  

The remains of the external tower, or bastion, were unearthed in 2023. The recently discovered bastion is quite similar to external towers that were constructed in Roman London. It also matches the architectural style of several Saxon Shore fortifications, which were built to protect the southern and eastern coasts of Roman Britain from seaborne invasion. 

The bastion of the Roman fortress discovered in 2023. (Petuaria ReVisited Project) 

This structure may have been added during the late third century by a Roman commander known as Carausius, who created the breakaway empire and declared himself ruler of all Britain in 286 AD. Or perhaps it was constructed by Carausius’ ally-turned-enemy Allectus, who assassinated his former friend and named himself as the new emperor of the breakaway empire in 293. Allectus’ rule lasted just three years, after which the region was returned to the Roman Empire. 

All the shenanigans associated with the breakaway empire are now a footnote in the history of Roman Britain. But while the reigns of Carausius and Allectus represent a brief interlude in the Roman Empire’s story of British conquest, they did leave behind an architectural legacy at Petuaria that has finally been rediscovered. 

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