GALAVA
(Ambleside) Westmorland, England.
At the head of Lake Windermere, which may have
been used for transporting supplies from the S, on roads
from Alone (Watercrook) and Brocavum (Brougham)
to the W coast at Glannoventa (Ravenglass). A road N
possibly existed. The first fort was an irregular foursided area defended by two ditches with a palisade between them and a clay rampart. Nothing is known of
the internal buildings. Its date may be Trajanic. It probably proved too wet for permanent occupation so a clay
and gravel platform was constructed over part of it, on
which a new fort was built, defended by a stone wall
backed with an earth rampart. Double ditches were traced
on its N and E sides, apparently without a causeway at
the gates. Of the four gates only the Porta Praetoria is
double. At each angle is an internal tower.
The principia was carelessly laid out, with the entrance
to the courtyard off-center; two L-shaped weapon-stores
flank it. The cross-hall, roofed with local slate, has a
rostrum in its NW corner, and the back range comprises
three rooms with a sunken strongroom in the center
room. The granary N of the principia is a square, buttressed building with vent holes in the N and S walls
only, divided into three sections. In the N and S sections
low walls were built to carry the suspended floor. In the
center the three incomplete walls, at right angles to those
of the other section, are too widely spaced to take a
floor. In the E section charred wheat was found, lying
on oak boards thought to be the remains of a bin. The
praetorium S of the principia is a courtyard building
only partially excavated. Little is known of the timber
barrack blocks except that those examined had at one
time been destroyed by fire. This fort is probably Hadrianic, and was occupied to the end of the 4th c. Part of
the civil settlement NE of the fort has been discovered,
on low-lying wet ground. One tombstone records the
deaths of a retired centurion and of a record clerk,
killed in the fort by the enemy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. G. Collingwood, “Report on the exploration of the Roman fort at Ambleside,”
Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Arch. Soc. ser. 2, 14 (1914)
433-65; 15 (1915) 1-62; 16 (1916) 57-90; M. E.
Burkett, “Recent Discoveries at Ambleside,” ibid. 65
(1965) 86-101.
D. CHARLESWORTH
