Castra of Arnsburg

Kastell Arnsburg stands on a flat hilltop fifteen metres above the Welsbach stream where it meets the Wetter river. The site lies just west of Lich in the Wetterau, Hesse, and once formed the northernmost Roman cohort fort on the Limes. A handful of low, reconstructed foundations and the remains of the north gate are all that survive above ground today. Its position gave the garrison a clear view along the Limes wall and its watchtowers for about one and a half kilometres. The fort followed the standard Roman rectangle plan with four gates, each flanked by two towers, and fourteen further towers along the walls. Inside, stone buildings included the headquarters, the commander’s house and a granary, enough for roughly six hundred soldiers. Visitors park beside the Welsbach bridge and walk up to the plateau. The small farm cemetery at the entrance sits on the old fort land, and to its right lie the exposed ruins of the north gate. Beyond the gate the interior is open grass, showing where the principia and other structures once stood. The whole area forms part of the wider Limes landscape, where traces of the frontier earthworks can still be traced across the fields.