Tomen Y Mur

Tomen y Mur is a Roman fort complex in Gwynedd, Wales. The fort was constructed under governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in AD 78, and was abandoned around AD 140. A millennium later, in the Norman period, the site was reoccupied and refortified with a motte within the old walls. It is a scheduled monument in the care of Snowdonia National Park Authority. LocationTomen y Mur lies on the slope of an isolated spur above the A470, northeast of Llyn Trawsfynydd. It is one of the most exposed and isolated Roman sites in Wales. BackgroundAccording to Tacitus, the Ordovices – the native Celtic peoples of central and Northwestern Wales – were particularly reluctant to submit to Roman occupation and, alongside the Silures, had fought a bitter guerrilla war under the leadership of Caratacus during the AD 50s. Shortly before Agricola's governorship began in AD 78, the Ordovices were still actively resisting and had massacred an entire regiment of Roman Cavalry based in their territory. Agricola's response – part of his overall conquest of Wales – was so brutal that Tacitus tells us that the Ordivices were effectively wiped out.

Tomen y Mur is a Roman fort complex in Gwynedd, Wales. The fort was constructed under governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in AD 78, and was abandoned around AD 140. A millennium later, in the Norman period, the site was reoccupied and refortified with a motte within the old walls. It is a scheduled monument in the care of Snowdonia National Park Authority. LocationTomen y Mur lies on the slope of an isolated spur above the A470, northeast of Llyn Trawsfynydd. It is one of the most exposed and isolated Roman sites in Wales. BackgroundAccording to Tacitus, the Ordovices – the native Celtic peoples of central and Northwestern Wales – were particularly reluctant to submit to Roman occupation and, alongside the Silures, had fought a bitter guerrilla war under the leadership of Caratacus during the AD 50s. Shortly before Agricola's governorship began in AD 78, the Ordovices were still actively resisting and had massacred an entire regiment of Roman Cavalry based in their territory. Agricola's response – part of his overall conquest of Wales – was so brutal that Tacitus tells us that the Ordivices were effectively wiped out.