Roman Cumbria was an area that lay on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain, and, indeed, of the Roman Empire itself. (The term 'Cumbria' is a much later designation – the Romans would not have used it). Interest in the Roman occupation of the region lies in this frontier aspect: why did the Romans choose to occupy the north-west of England; why build a solid barrier in the north of the region (Hadrian's Wall); why was the region so heavily militarised; to what extent were the native inhabitants "Romanised" compared to their compatriots in southern England?
The decision to conquer the area was taken by the Romans after the revolt of Venutius threatened to make the Brigantes and their allies, such as the Carvetii, into anti-Roman tribes rather than pro-Roman ones, which had previously been the case. After a period of conquest and consolidation, based on the Stanegate line, with some coastal defences added, Hadrian decided to make the previous turf wall into a solid one. Although abandoned briefly in favour of the more northerly Antonine Wall, the Hadrianic line was fallen back upon and remained for the rest of the Roman period.
Such unrest as occurred during the Roman occupation seems that have been the result of either incursions by tribes to the north of the Wall, or as the result of factional disputes in Rome in which the Cumbrian military was caught up. There is no evidence of the Brigantian federation stirring up trouble. Romanisation of the population may therefore have occurred to varying degrees, especially near the forts.
Conquest and consolidation, 71–117 AD
After the Romans' initial conquest of Britain in 43 AD, the territory of the Brigantes remained independent of Roman rule for some time. At that time the leader of the Brigantes was queen Cartimandua,Tacitus, Histories, 3.45, Rome. whose husband Venutius might have been a Carvetian and may therefore have been responsible for the incorporation of Cumbria into the Brigantian federation. It may be that Cartimandua ruled the Brigantian peoples east of the Pennines (possibly with a centre at Stanwick), while Venutius was the chief of the Brigantes (or Carvetii) west of the Pennines in Cumbria (with a possible centre based at Clifton Dykes.) Shotter (2004), pp. 16-17.
Despite retaining nominal independence, Cartimandua and Venutius were loyal to the Romans and in return were offered protection by their Imperial neighbours. But the royal couple divorced, and Venutius led two rebellions against his ex-wife. The first, in the 50s AD, was quashed by the Romans, but the second, in AD 69, came at a time of political instability in the Empire and resulted in the Romans evacuating Cartimandua and leaving Venutius to reign over the Brigantes.
As Shotter says,"this situation, involving the removal from power of a Roman client-monarch, could not be allowed to last for long..."Shotter (2014), p.5 The Roman conquest of the Brigantes began two years later. Tacitus gives pride of place in the conquest of the north to Agricola (his father-in-law), who was later governor of Britain during 77-83 AD. However, it is thought that much had been achieved under the previous governorships of Vettius Bolanus (governor 69-71 AD), and of Quintus Petillius Cerialis (governor 71-74 AD).Shotter (2000), pp. 189-198. From other sources, it seems that Bolanus had possibly dealt with Venutius and penetrated into Scotland, and evidence from the carbon-dating of the gateway timbers of the Roman fort at Carlisle (Luguvalium) suggest that they were felled in 72 AD, during the governorship of Cerialis.Shotter (2004), pp. 28-35. Nevertheless, Agricola played his part in the west as commander of the legion XX Valeria Victrix, while Cerialis led the IX Hispania in the east. In addition, the Legio II Adiutrix sailed from Chester up river estuaries to cause surprise to the enemy.
It is likely that the western thrust was started from Lancaster, where there is evidence of a Cerialian foundation, and followed the line of the Lune and Eden river valleys through Low Borrow Bridge and Brougham (Brocavum). On the Cumbrian coast, evidence is scant, but perhaps Ravenglass and Blennerhasset, where there is evidence of one of the earliest Roman occupations in Cumbria, were involved. Beckfoot and Maryport may also have featured early on.Caruana (1997), pp. 1-168, 40-51. At some point, part of Cerialis's force moved across the Stainmore Pass from Corbridge westwards to join Agricola, as evidenced by campaign camps (which may have been previously set up by Bolanus) at Rey Cross, Crackenthorpe, Kirkby Thore and Plumpton Head. Signal- or watch-towers are also in evidence across the Stainmore area - Maiden Castle, Bowes Moor and Roper Castle, for example.Shotter (2004), pp. 29-36. The two forces then moved up from the vicinity of Penrith to Carlisle, establishing the fort there in 72/73AD.Shotter (2014), p.6
In 78 AD Agricola pushed north from Deva (Chester) to Carlisle and placed garrisons between the Solway Firth and the River Tyne, consolidating his gains over the following two years. Carlisle (and Corbridge in the east) were probably used by Agricola as bases and winter-quarters for his advance into Scotland during 79 AD. With the decline of imperial ambitions in Scotland (and Ireland) by 87 AD (the recall of Agricola in 83 AD and the withdrawal of the XX legion four years later), a consolidation based on the line of the Stanegate road (between Carlisle and Corbridge) was settled upon. Carlisle was the seat of a 'centurio regionarius' (or 'district commissioner'), indicating its important status.
The years 87 AD - 117 AD were ones of consolidation of the northern frontier area. Only a few sites north of the Stanegate line were maintained, and the signs are that an orderly withdrawal to the Solway-Tyne line was made. There does not seem to have been any rout caused as a result of battles with various tribes.Shotter (2004), p. 56. Agricola may have left watchtowers at Burgh-by-Sands, Farnhill, Easton (Finglandrigg) and possibly Bowness-on-Solway. Other watchtowers at Crooklands, Cummersdale and Gamelsby Ridge protecting the agricultural coastal plain may also have existed from this time. The Stanegate road was augmented by large forts: Vindolanda (Northumberland) may date from around 85 AD, other forts dating from the mid-80's were constructed at Newbrough and at Carvoran (in present-day Northumberland), Nether Denton, and Brampton in Cumbria. Modifications to the Stangate line, with the reduction in the size of the forts and the addition of fortlets and watchtowers between them, seems to have taken place from the mid-90s onwards.Shotter (2004), p. 58.
Apart from the Stanegate line, other forts existed along the Solway Coast at Beckfoot, Maryport, Burrow Walls (near to the present town of Workington) and Moresby (near to Whitehaven). These forts have Hadrianic inscriptions, but some (Beckfoot, for example), may have dated from the late 1st century. The road running from Carlisle to Maryport had turf-and-timber forts along it at Old Carlisle (Red Dial), Caer Mote, and Papcastle (which may have had special responsibility for looking after the largely untouched Lake District region). The forts in the east along the Eden and Lune valley road at Old Penrith, Brougham and Low Borrow Bridge may have been enlarged, but the evidence is scanty. A fort at Troutbeck may have been established from the period of Trajan (emperor 98 AD - 117 AD) onwards, along with an uncertain road running between Old Penrith and/or Brougham, through Troutbeck (and possibly an undiscovered fort in the Keswick area) to Papcastle and Maryport. Other forts that may have been established during this period include one at Ambleside (Galava), positioned to take advantage of ship-borne supply to the forts of the Lake District. From here, a road was constructed during the Trajanic period to Hardknott where a fort was built (the fort at Ravenglass, where the road eventually finished, was built in the following reign of Hadrian (117 AD - 138 AD)). A road between Ambleside to Old Penrith and/or Brougham, going over High Street, may also date from this period. From the fort at Kirkby Thore (Bravoniacum), which stood on the road from York to Brougham (following the present A66), there was also a road, the Maiden Way, that ran north across Alston Edge to the fort at Whitley Castle (Epiacum) and on to the one at Carvoran on the Wall. In the south of the county, forts may have existed from this period south of Ravenglass and in the Barrow and Cartmel region. The only one that survives is at Watercrook (Kendal).Shotter (2004), pp. 61-68.
Hadrian, Antoninus and Severus, 117–211 AD
Between 117 and 119, there may have been a war with the Britons, perhaps in the western part of the northern region, involving the tribes in the Dumfries and Galloway area.Shotter (2004), p. 75. The Vita Hadriani ('Life of Hadrian', vol.2), the biography of Hadrian, indicates that, at the beginning of his reign, the Britons "could not be kept under control". Likewise, Marcus Cornelius Fronto, writing a decade later to the emperor Marcus Aurelius, compared the losses in Britain to those sustained in the Jewish Revolt.Higham (1986), p. 161. Whether this unrest included some kind of military disaster in Trajanic times or in the early part of Hadrian's reign, perhaps involving the Legio IX Hispana, or whether the fighting was north or south of the Stanegate limes is open to dispute. The response was to provide a frontier zone in the western sector of forts and milecastles, built of turf and timber (the "Turf Wall"), the standard construction method (although some have suggested it was because "turf and timber were preferred on the Solway plain, where stone is scarce").Hogan (2007).
For whatever reason, this was not enough for the emperor Hadrian (emperor 117 AD - 138 AD). Perhaps the decision to build the Wall was taken because of the seriousness of the military situation, or because it fitted in with the new emperor's wish to consolidate the gains of the empire and to delimit its expansion, as happened on the German frontier, (or possibly both). Hadrian, who was something of an amateur architect, came to Britain in 122 AD to oversee the building of a more solid frontier (along with other measures elsewhere in England). It is possible that Hadrian stayed at Vindolanda (in present-day Northumberland) while planning the wall.Shotter (2004), p. 79. Building of Hadrian's Wall began in 122 AD and was mostly completed in less than ten years, such was the efficiency of the Roman military. It ran from Bowness on the Solway Firth across the north of the county and through Northumberland to Wallsend on the Tyne estuary, with additional military installations running down the Cumbrian coast from Bowness to Risehow, south of Maryport, in an integrated fashion (and with forts at Burrow Walls and Moresby that were perhaps not part of the system).Wilson (2004), pp. 21, 1-231.Breeze (2004) pp. 66-94, 1-231.
Historians believe that the Turf Wall from the River Irthing to Bowness-on Solway was rebuilt in stone in two stages. The most easterly five miles were rebuilt at the time of Hadrian, with the remainder being rebuilt after 150 AD. However, this is open to dispute: it is uncertain whether the building works in the second half of the 2nd century were repairs to the Wall made after the abandonment of the Antonine line, or were actually completion in stone of the unfinished turf section. The second possibility might account for the finding of civilian inscription stones relating to the building of the Wall (the 'Civitas stones') - the construction of the Wall has usually been thought of as a strictly military operation.Breeze (2012), pp. 69-80.