Мамуций: Римский форт в Манчестере

Former Roman fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester in North West England

Mamucium, also known as Mancunium, is a former Roman fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester in North West England. The castrum, which was founded c. AD 79 within the Roman province of Roman Britain, was garrisoned by a cohort of Roman auxiliaries near two major Roman roads running through the area. Several sizeable civilian settlements (or vicus) containing soldiers' families, merchants and industry developed outside the fort. The area is a protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. The ruins were left undisturbed until Manchester expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century. Most of the fort was levelled to make way for new developments such as the construction of the Rochdale Canal and the Great Northern Railway. The site is now part of the Castlefield Urban Heritage Park that includes renovated warehouses. A section of the fort's wall along with its gatehouse, granaries, and other ancillary buildings from the vicus have been reconstructed and are open to the public.

Mamucium is generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, either from mamm ("breast", in reference to a "breast like hill") or from mamma ("mother", in reference to a local river goddess). Both meanings are preserved in modern Celtic languages, mam meaning "mother" in Welsh. The neuter suffix ium is used in Latin placenames, particularly those representing Common Brittonic ion (a genitive suffix denoting "place or city of ~"). The Welsh name for Manchester is [[:cy:Manceinion. It appears that William Baxter invented this name in his ‘Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum’ (1719) as a back formation based on ‘Mancunium’. ‘Historia Brittonum’ (828 29) lists ‘Cair Maunguid’ (fort of the peat trees) and it has been suggested that this might be the authentic Welsh name for ‘Manchester’. In Modern Welsh, it would have been ‘*Caerfawnwydd’. It should be stressed that the ancient name is unknown. However, if one is correct to equate the 9th century name with ‘Manchester’, the Proto Celtic name would have been ‘*Māniwidion’. Roman authorities give both Mancunium and Mamucium, but it is not clear that either form is correct. Possibly neither is and they might be scribal errors for ‘*Maniuidium’.

The Romans built the fort on a naturally defensible sandstone bluff that overlooked a nearby crossing over the River Medlock. The area became an important junction for at least two major military roads through this part of the country. One highway ran east to west between the legionary fortresses of Deva Victrix (Chester) and Eboracum (York) the other ran north to Bremetennacum (Ribchester). In addition, Mamucium may also have overlooked a lesser road running north west to Coccium (Wigan). The fort was one of a chain of fortifications along the Eboracum to Deva Victrix road, with Castleshaw Roman fort lying 16 mile (26 km) to the east, and Condate (Northwich) 18 mile (29 km) to the west. Stamps on tegulae indicate that Mamucium had administrative links not only with Castleshaw, but also with Ardotalia, the nearest fort (12 miles), Slack and Ebchester; all the forts probably got the tegulae from the same place in Grimescar Wood near Huddersfield.

There is no evidence that a prehistoric settlement occupied the site before the arrival of the Romans. However, Stone Age activity has been recorded in the area. Two Mesolithic flints and a flint flake as well as a Neolithic scraper have been discovered. A shard of late Bronze Age pottery has also been found in situ. Although the area was in the territory of the Celtic tribe Brigantes, it may have been under the control of the Setantii, a sub tribe of the Brigantes, when the Romans took control from the ancient Britons.

Construction of Mamucium started around AD 79 during the campaigns of General Julius Agricola against the Brigantes after a treaty failed. Excavations show the fort had three main phases of construction: first AD 79, second around AD 160, and third in AD 200. The first phase of the fort was built from turf and timber. By the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, a civilian settlement (called a vicus) had grown up around the fort. Around AD 90, the fort's ramparts were strengthened. Mamucium was demolished some time around AD 140. it was abandoned some time between 120 and 160 – broadly coinciding with the demolition of the fort – before it was re inhabited when the fort was rebuilt. The second phase was built around the year 160. Although it was again of turf and timber construction, it was larger than the previous fort, measuring to accommodate extra granaries (horrea). Around 200, the gatehouses of the fort were rebuilt in stone and the walls surrounding the fort were given a stone facing. which would have been the first in Manchester. Mamucium was included in the Antonine Itinerary, a 3rd century register of roads throughout the Roman Empire. This and inscriptions on and repairs to buildings indicate that Mamucium was still in use in the first half of the 3rd century. The vicus may have been abandoned by the mid 3rd century; this is supported by the excavated remains of some buildings that were demolished and the materials robbed for use elsewhere. The County Archaeologist said
It's the first Roman stone inscription to be found in Manchester for 150 years and records only the second known Roman from Manchester  The preservation of the stone is remarkable. On top of the stone is a shallow bowl which was used for offerings of wine or blood or perhaps to burn incense.|Norman Redhead
As well as Pagan worship, there is also evidence of early Christian worship. In the 1970s, a fragment of 2nd century "word square" was discovered with an anagram of PATER NOSTER. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square", which is carved on a piece of amphora, is actually a Christian artefact, if so, it is one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain.

After the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410, the area of Mamucium was used for agricultural purposes. listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius.

Mamucium was levelled as Manchester expanded in the Industrial Revolution. The construction of the Rochdale Canal through the south western corner of the fort in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the building of viaducts for the Great Northern Railway over the site in the late 19th century, damaged the remains and even destroyed some of the southern half of the fort. In the mid 20th century, historian A. J. P. Taylor called the surviving stretch of Roman wall "the least interesting Roman remains in Britain". The first excavation of the vicus was carried out in the 1970s under Professor Barri Jones. and partial reconstructions of the forts walls, including the ramparts and gateways, were opened in 1984. measuring between and thick. The vicus associated with Mamucium surrounded the site on the west, north, and east sides, with the majority lying to the north. The vicus covered about and the fort about similar to Mamucium which covered .