Galava?

My ongoing interest in the local history of the Romans, particularly their roads, has taken me a bit by surprise. But every once in a while I find myself looking at maps and bouncing between the various semi-amateur sites that are a happy mix of fact and speculation.

Recently, I came across an aerial shot of the fort at Hardknott Pass, which I've never visited - I didn't know it was there! - but which looks incredible. On that website it says "Follow in the footsteps of the Romans by visiting two other Roman sites in the area, once linked to Hardknott by a Roman road. From the remains of the bath house at Ravenglass, the road went east to Hardknott, and from there it descended to the shores of Lake Windermere, and to Ambleside Roman Fort."

AMBLESIDE ROMAN FORT?!

I have been to Ambleside many, many times, not least because that's where my accountant's offices are, but I have never seen anything indicating a Roman fort. What the hell?

It was only a few days ago that I learned about the fort and, by good fortune, I had to go to see the accountant, today, and so it was that after a couple of hours of journals and deferred income and so on and so forth, I was able to walk down from the town and find the fort.

English Heritage have done a really good job with the site, which is beautifully laid out at the top of the lake. Well, actually, the Romans did a good job of it but English Heritage have preserved and managed the site well.

There are a few information boards - I love an information board - and from one of those I learned that a small timber fort was first built on the site towards the end of the first century. That fort was abandoned but quickly replaced early in the second century by a stone fort, which remained in use for a couple of hundred years. 

It's easy to be casual about centuries when we talk about history but that's a long time. Long enough for a town to spring up and establish itself to the north and east, which is where Ambleside stands today.

As for the title of my post: there is a fort mentioned in Roman records called Galava and the one at Ambleside might be it.

****
Reading: 'Touching The Void' by Joe Simpson