Alabum

52°00′04″N 3°47′36″W / 52.00119°N 3.79341°W / 52.00119; -3.79341

20km
12miles
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16
16
15
15
14
14
12
Magnis
(Kenchester)
11
Castell Collen
(Llandrindod Wells)
10
Moridunum
(Carmarthen)
9
Dinefwr Park,
Llandeilo
8
Pen-llwyn
7
Trawscoed
6
Bremia
(Llanio, Llanddewi Brefi)
5
Luentinum
(Pumsaint)
4
Alabum
(Llandovery)
3
Cicutio/Cicucium
(Y Gaer, Brecon)
2
(Go)Bannio
(Abergavenny)
1
Isca Augusta
(Caerleon)
Schematic map of Roman roads and forts between Caerleon and west Wales dating to the later 1st century AD. Where the Roman names are known, these were identified through the Ravenna Cosmography (except for Luentinum and Moridunum which are mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia).
Blue/black dots are listed in the Cosmography. Grey dots are other substantial forts known through archaeological remains.
1
Isca Augusta (Caerleon)
2
Gobannium, (Abergavenny)
3
Cicutio/Cicucium (Y Gaer, Brecon)
4
Alabum (Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Llandovery)
5
Luentinum, (Pumsaint)
6
Bremia (Llanio, near Llanddewi Brefi)
7
Roman fort at Trawscoed
8
Roman Fort near Pen-llwyn
9
Dinefwr Park Roman forts, Llandeilo
10
Moridunum (Carmarthen)
11
Castell Collen (Llandrindod Wells)
12
Magnis (Kenchester), Herefordshire

The rectangular enclosure that defined this Roman fort was built in the 70s AD as part of the campaign to integrate southern Wales into the Roman province of Britannia Superior. It lay on a key road, now known as the Sarn Helen (RR69), from the legionary fortress of Isca Augusta (Caerleon) that ran north west across Wales to Bremia and on to North Wales. It also sat on a road (the Via Julia Montana, or RR623) running from Moridunum (Carmarthen) across to eastern Wales at Castell Collen (Llandrindod Wells). It thus held an important crossroads along with a bridging point over the River Towy, and the town that grew up near the fort retained its significance and became Llandovery.