Luentinum or Loventium refers to the Roman

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Pumsaint Pumsaint is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales, halfway between Llanwrda and Lampeter on the A482 in the valley of the Afon Cothi. It forms part of the extensive estate of Dolaucothi, which is owned by the National Trust. The name is Wel ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

. The site lies either side of the A482 in Pumsaint and was in use from the mid 70s AD to around 120 AD. It may have had particular functions associated with the adjacent

Dolaucothi Gold Mines The Dolaucothi Gold Mines (; cy, Mwynfeydd Aur Dolaucothi) (), also known as the Ogofau Gold Mine, are ancient Roman surface and underground mines located in the valley of the River Cothi, near Pumsaint, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The gold mi ...

. It formed part of a network of at least 30 forts across Wales, such as

Llandovery Llandovery (; cy, Llanymddyfri ) is a market town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 and A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and west of Brecon. Hi ...

, Bremia/Llanio near

Llanddewi Brefi Llanddewi Brefi () is a village, parish and community of approximately 500 people in Ceredigion, Wales. In the sixth century, Saint David (in Welsh, ''Dewi Sant''), the patron saint of Wales, held the Synod of Brefi here and it has borne his ...

, and the fort at

Llandeilo Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the ...

. The Roman road

Sarn Helen Sarn Helen refers to several stretches of Roman road in Wales. The route, which follows a meandering course through central Wales, connects Aberconwy in the north with Carmarthen in the west. Despite its length, academic debate continues as t ...

, which runs past the Llanio and Llandovery forts was nearby. __NOTOC__ The name Luentinum is mentioned in

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

's , 2nd century AD 'Geography', and is thought to relate to washing in reference to the Pumsaint gold mines. The fort appears to have been founded as a square 5½ acre (2.25

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

)

Roman auxiliary The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of in ...

fort controlling the adjoining gold mines, around AD 75 when

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...

was governor of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

and active in subduing the Silures of

Roman Wales The Roman era in the area of modern Wales began in 48 AD, with a military invasion by the imperial governor of Roman Britain. The conquest was completed by 78 AD, and Roman rule endured until the region was abandoned in 383 AD. The Roman Emp ...

. The fort had an earthen rampart and double ditch. The date of first construction was determined from a

Samian ware Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

inkwell with stamp found in the early 1970s where the river bank had cut into the fort. On the east bank of the River Cothi, a few hundred yards south of Pumsaint village, was discovered a small double-roomed building with

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

and plain

tessellated A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ...

floors. It was probably the military bath-house. The internal buildings of the fort underwent a number of rebuildings until the fort was abandoned around 140. The surrounding civilian

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

then took over the area and, no doubt, also the mines. The fort is situated about halfway between similar forts at

to the east and Bremia or Llanio to the west, with

to the south. The fort was at the meeting point of several Roman roads in mid Wales. These were the ''Ffordd Fleming'' which ran from Loventium to ''Menapia'' (

St David's St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

), the more southerly Via Julia which also came from St David's and met the ''Sarn Helen'' near Loventium, and the ''Hen Fford'' (old road) which came from Maridunum (

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

). The name ''Luentinum'' appears only in

's ''Geographia''. It appears to be related to the Brythonic word for 'washing', as suggested by George Boon of the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. It refers to the

hushing Hushing is an ancient and historic mining method using a flood or torrent of water to reveal mineral veins. The method was applied in several ways, both in prospecting for ores, and for their exploitation. Mineral veins are often hidden below ...

( hydraulic mining) methods used on the site for extraction of the gold, and the washing tables used to concentrate the gold dust and nuggets. It is one of the best examples of the application of advanced

Roman technology Roman technology is the collection of antiques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made possible the expansion of the economy and military of ancient Rome (753 BC – 476 AD). The Roma ...

in Britain, and compares with other Roman mines in Europe such as those at Verespatak in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

and

Las Médulas Las Médulas () is a historic gold-mining site near the town of Ponferrada in the comarca of El Bierzo (province of León, Castile and León, Spain). It was the most important gold mine, as well as the largest open-pit gold mine in the entire ...

in northern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is a site of international significance and importance.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . {{coord, 52.0452, -3.9616, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Roman fortifications in Carmarthenshire Archaeological sites in Carmarthenshire Roman towns in Wales Roman auxiliary forts in Wales

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography