Hardknott Roman Fort

This remote and dramatically-sited fort was founded under Hadrian's rule in the 2nd century.

Well-marked remains include the headquarters building, commandant's house and bath house. The site of the parade ground survives beside the fort, and the road which Hardknott guarded can be traced for some distance as an earthwork.

The fort at Hardknott was established early in the second century AD: a fragmentary inscription, dating from the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117–38), from the south gate records the garrison as the Fourth Cohort of Dalmatians, from the Balkans.

The fort was demilitarised in the late 130s, when the Romans reoccupied southern Scotland, but was regarrisoned under Marcus Aurelius in the 160s; it was finally abandoned very early in the third century.

Objects found around the fort suggest that thereafter its ruins offered temporary shelter to passing patrols and travellers.