A Roman fort high on the Cumbrian fells above Hardknott Pass, with some of the finest mountain views of any ruin in England
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Hardknott was a Roman fort, meaning a walled army base, built high on the flank of Hardknott Pass to guard the road that ran from the coast at Ravenglass over the mountains towards Ambleside. The Romans put it up in the second century AD, in the reign of the emperor Hadrian, and garrisoned it with a cohort raised in Dalmatia, on the far side of the empire. Its square stone walls still stand a few courses high, and inside you can trace the gateways, the headquarters building, the commandant’s house and the granaries. Just outside the walls are the remains of a bath-house, and above the fort the Romans levelled a whole shelf of hillside to make a flat parade ground for drilling the troops.
The setting is the real reason to come. The fort sits on a shelf of open fellside looking down Eskdale, with the Scafell range filling the skyline, and on a clear day there are few Roman sites anywhere with a view to match it.
Getting here is part of the adventure, and worth planning. Hardknott Pass is one of the steepest and most testing roads in England, a single-track climb with tight hairpins and gradients that punish car and driver, so go in good weather, take it slowly, and think twice in ice or low cloud. There is limited roadside parking near the top of the pass, and a short but rough walk up to the fort from there. The Woolpack Inn and the village of Boot lie down in Eskdale to the west, a gentler base for the day.
More at the National Heritage List entry
