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LEAD PIG

As you enter what would have been the headquarters, or principia, of the Ambleside Roman Fort you will see before you the remains of three rooms. The most important of these rooms is the room in the middle, the shrine to the standards. The shrine in Roman forts had a dual purpose both as a place of devotion and ritual but also the location of an underground strongroom for pay and other valuables. This is the stone lined pit that you see in the centre of its ruins. In one of the adjacent rooms is possibly where Flavius Romanus, whose tombstone you will encounter at stop 13, would have worked as an actuarius in charge of distributing the soldiers’ pay.​

When the headquarters was excavated in 1914, archaeologists found an oddly shaped sheet of lead sitting on the steps of the strongroom. The weight of this sheet is the same as a typical Roman lead ingot, or pig. So probably this object was originally a single lead ingot. The reason for its current shape is unknown but is suspected to be the result of the ingot melting due to a fire at the fort and moulding itself to the stairs it was found on. The cause and date of the fire is unknown. Could it have been part of the battle of Ambleside from which the sling bullets come?

 

The truly interesting part of the lead ingot is what it may imply about lead production in the region. It used to be thought that lead production in the Lake District started in the 11th century. The idea that the Romans were exploiting lead in Cumbria is still not proven, but objects like this suggest they may have been. This has important implications for how archaeologists understand Roman Cumbria and Roman use of the Lake District’s natural resources.

 

From the Commander’s house, move forward to learn about the final building in this central row, which is the fort’s twin granaries.

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