Lavatrae
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| Lavatrae | |
|---|---|
| Bowes, County Durham, England | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Castra |
| Condition | Earthworks only survive |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 54°31′00″N 2°00′49″W / 54.5168°N 2.0136°W |
| Site history | |
| In use | early 70s AD - 4th century AD |
| Materials | A wooden fort surrounded by stone walls |
Lavatrae, also known as Lavatris, was a Roman fort in the modern-day village of Bowes, County Durham, England. The medieval Bowes Castle was built within the perimeter of the fort.
The Romans built a fort with wooden ramparts at Lavatrae in the early AD 70s, after an invasion of the region by Governor Petilius Cerealis.[1] It was intended as a waypoint on the northern leg of the Roman equivalent of Watling Street in the section connecting Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Eboracum (York) and points south. It guarded the eastern entrance to the Stainmore Pass through the Pennines, overlooking the River Greta.[1] The name Verterae, arguably another name for "Lavatrae", meant "summit".[2]
Stone walls were built around the site in the 130s, and an external settlement called a vicus was constructed to the north of the fort, with a bathhouse to the south-east.[1] The bathhouse was 30 by 20 feet (9.1 by 6.1 m), tiled and appears to have been destroyed in a fire, and then rebuilt.[3] The fort and the vicus were occupied until at least the late 4th century.[1]