Bravonium

Bravonium was a Roman settlement in what is now Leintwardine in Herefordshire. It stood at the crossing of important roads and began as a civilian site around AD 70. Early buildings lined the main street, but by AD 160 a military fort measuring 262 by 154 metres was built over the settlement. A rampart surrounded the fort, and the civilian area moved just south of the walls before later spreading inside once the fort was abandoned about AD 196. Excavations have revealed traces of a bath-house and a stone dedicated to Jupiter. The settlement appears in ancient sources including Ptolemy’s Geography, the Antonine Itinerary and the work of the Ravenna Geographer. Ptolemy notes that Bravonium lay within the territory of the Ordovices. A fire in the fourth century destroyed the site, which was never rebuilt. Visitors today walk over the remains beneath quiet fields near Leintwardine. The line of the main Roman road can still be traced, and fragments of masonry occasionally surface after rain. The site is quiet, with only the occasional walker pausing to read the small information board. The surrounding countryside is gentle, rolling farmland typical of the Welsh Marches.