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Hardknott Roman Fort

A 3D historical tour of the Hardknott Roman Fort site. Including points of interest and a tour of the main wall.
Use your mouse / touch to navigate around the site or click on the feature points menu to learn more about each of the buildings.

Please note, the resources total 35mb, so users on mobile data are encouraged to be patient with their download speed! An original, highly detailed model exists, but here has been optimised for web delivery.

Built with love, by Cosy Studios
Using information gathered on site, provided by The National Trust. & English Heritage

Praetorium

Principia

Horrea

Hard Knott Pass

Angle Tower

The Commanding Officer’s House

Commanding Officers were drawn from the upper levels of society. Some may have been accompanied on duty by their families and all would have been expected to accommodate visiting officials. To reflect the officers’ status and circumstances spacious higher quality housing was necessary. In contrast, the soldiers would have had basic accommodation in timber barracks, elsewhere within the fort.

The Commanding Officer’s house was large and single storied, probably with rooms arranged around a central, open courtyard – a design based on Roman town houses. Here only one range of rooms and the outer wall of a second survive.

Headquarters building

This was the most important building within the fort and occupied a central position at the junction of the two main roads. Its south-eastern entrance gave access to a small, open courtyard surrounded by a verandah.

Beyond this lay a hall running the full width of the building, towards the north-eastern (right hand) end of this hall a short projecting wall represents the remains of a tribunal, a platform from which, the Commanding Officer would have given orders for the day and officiated over ceremonial and official occasions.
Immediately north-west of this hall was a range of three rooms, the outer two of which were probably the pay and records offices. Between these was the aedes (temple) where the garrison’s standards, images of the reigning emperor and perhaps an altar were housed.

The Granaries

All forts were provided with granaries to store the grain which formed the main part of the Soldier’s diet although this was supplemented with a wide range of meal, vegetables, fruit and beer. Here there are two granary buildings, both with access from the Via Principalis or main street.

These long buildings had thick outer walls which were heavily buttressed, presumably to support the weight of their superstructure and slate roof. The grain was probably stored in sacks or bins and had to be kept dry. This was achieved by providing the buildings with raised wooden floors, supported on rows of piers which you can still see, to allow good ventilation.

From this perspective, you can see Hard Knott Pass in the distance. A feature that bares the title of steepest road in England.

The Hardknott Pass stands at a maximum elevation of 393 m (1,289 ft).[1] The road descends steeply at a gradient of 30% (1 in 3) into the Duddon Valley.

The fort is square with a small square tower at each of its corners. These would have projected above the wall and allowed good views along the adjacent sides of the fort as well as of the surrounding countryside.

No doorways into the towers occur within the fort at ground level so we may assume that access was from the wall-walk which ran around the top of the wall.