A single excavated stretch of a rampart that once ran for four miles round the Brigantes' power base
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Earthworks onlybanks, ditches and platforms — read the ground, not walls
What survives on show at Stanwick is a small fraction of something enormous: a rampart and ditch that once ran for about four miles, enclosing over 700 acres, built in the 1st century AD by the Brigantes, the most powerful tribe in northern Britain before the Romans arrived. The stretch open to visitors is a single excavated section, cut into the bedrock, where the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler partly rebuilt a length of the drystone wall that once faced the bank during his 1950s dig, so visitors can now picture how imposing the whole circuit would have looked. Stanwick was the Brigantes’ power base, likely linked to their queen, Cartimandua, who kept the peace with Rome while goods such as wine and glass arrived here from across the empire, before the site declined after about AD 70 as Roman power moved north. It’s free to visit at any time, reached by steps up the bank, and Piercebridge Roman Bridge is a few miles north-east.
