Monumental Severan Building Discovered at Uncovering Roman Carlisle

Wardel Armstrong has been supporting the award winning Uncovering Roman Carlisle project since 2017 and have just concluded the 2024 excavation season.

Our archaeologists have been working with a team of volunteers who have contributed over a 1,200 person days this season and developed an extremely well received training program. Our engagement with the local community has involved over 30 presentations and included over 1,000 school children visiting the site to make this another very successful season.

We continue to develop a better understanding of the plan of the monumental Severan building with its northern limit now confirmed and evidence of a possible portico discovered along the southern side of the building making it the largest building discovered to date on the Northern frontier and of a unique design to the province of Britannia. The dating of this phase of the building to the early third century Severan period continues to be reinforced, this time with the discovery of Tyrian purple pigment (unique to the UK) and a finely carved stone bust that may represent the goddess Fortuna. The monumental nature of the building, the dedication inscription to the Empress Julia Domna, added to the discovery of 40 hypocaust tiles with a ligatured ‘IMP’ stamp, (standing for Imperator) clearly points to  a short period of time when the Severan court was based in York between 208 and 211, a period that witnessed extensive military campaigning north against the Caledonian tribes in Scotland, providing a reason why part of the Imperial court may have visited Carlisle and a possible explanation for the construction of this unusual building.

The focus of our current ongoing phase of excavation has shifted to the south of main site to an area known and is focusing on what we now believe is an area of ritual and funerary activity. Two rectangular stone structures may represent mausoleum. Excavation of the area around the possible mausoleum has produced a number of high status finds such as a patera handle and a millefiori disc brooch, which are likely to represent deliberate deposition rather than casual loss. We hope to return to site in 2025.