Leucarum
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Leucarum was a coastal auxiliary fort in the Roman province of Britannia. Its remains are located beneath the town of Loughor in the Welsh city of Swansea. The Romans built a rectangular or trapezoidal fort of some 2 hectares (4.9 acres) at the mouth of the River Loughor (Afon Llwchwr) in the AD70s as a garrison for Roman auxiliary troops. From initial Archaeological discoveries in the mid-19th century, through to major excavations during the 1980s, the fort is now well-documented as one of a number of such forts along the South Wales coast.
Early construction, from around AD73, was mostly in timber with earth banks, but successive rebuilds of both defenses and internal buildings in stone defences indicate some 50 years of intermittent use perhaps due to unrest or uneasy occupation until around AD120.[3] It was subsequently abandoned for a time and by the early 3rd century the ditch had naturally silted up. It appears to have been more actively renovated (with a reduction in size at the western end) and put back into use by the later 3rd century, including the period when Carausius declared himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul (Imperium Britanniarum). It was abandoned again by the Romans by the 330s, this time for good.[3] A Norman castle was later built in one corner of the fort. A medieval Church occupied a prominent position in the centre of the fort area, which was rebuilt on the same foundations in 1885.[4]
Antonine Itinerary
The only early documented use of the name 'Leucarum' occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, which has lists of distances and destinations along roads of the Roman Empire. The lists however are ambiguous or confusing in places, and it requires some adjustments to equate Leucarum with Loughor (Welsh: Llwchwr), but the strong name similarities meant it was assumed to be so even in 1695, and subsequent discoveries of a substantial Roman occupation have left little room for doubt.[5]