Huddersfield in Roman Times
By Ian A. Richmond
THE DISTRICT UNDER AGRICOLA AND HIS SUCCESSORS,
A.D. 80-117
ROMAN FRONTIERS
The earliest steps of Roman conquest in the Huddersfield
district left few deep imprints behind them. But in A.D.
77-78, when Agricola arrived as governor of Britain, Roman
organisation was imposed upon the district so distinctly
that excavation has made it possible to inspect its methods
in detail. The general scheme upon which Agricola worked
becomes clear by a glance at the map of the defences which
he founded in northern Britain. Within five years block
after block of the northern hill country had been surrounded,
as Tacticus tells, with fortified roads which covered many
hundreds miles. In such country this was the only possible
method of conquest, and it was followed elsewhere in the
Roman world unless the frontier rested upon some formidable
natural barrier, like the lower Rhine or the Danube. The
legionary fortresses at Chester and at York formed the hubs
whence these military roads radiated, guarded by small forts
at intervals no longer than a day’s march. The average
fort, such as Slack in the Huddersfield district, covered
three or four acres, and held a regiment of five hundred
men. But harbours, important road-junctions, road-heads
or bridge-heads were guarded by larger forts, which varied
in size according to their garrisons. The cohors quingenaria
might have a mounted detachment, when it was called equitata.
The Cavalry regiment, five hundred strong (ala quingenaria)
took up more room still. These three types were commanded
by praefecti. But there were also the cohort one thousand
strong (cohors milliaria), which might by equitat, and the
ala miliaria. These were commanded by tribuni. Each cohort
was divided into a number of centurae, commanded by centurions,
and each ala had its turmae, under decurions. But the exact
number of these divisions in each regiment is not known,
and there is reason to believe that the terms quingenaria
and miliaria represent no more than “paper-strength”;
for the figures given by Hyginus, who is generally thought
to have written under Trajan (A.D. 98-117), are open to
doubt. The evidence from Slack is discussed below.
Romans in the Pennines
In the second century A.D. the limits of the frontier-land
commonly began to be marked out definitely, perhaps by a
ditch and palisade, as in Germany, or a ditch and a wall
built of stone or turf, as in Britain. These were guarded
by forts and also by block-houses which contained fifty
to a hundred men and were commanded by centurions or privileged
private soldiers (beneficiarii). But generally these barriers
served to control customs and to keep down petty raiding
rather than to ward off powerful attacks; and the brunt
of serious fighting did not fall upon the auxiliary troops,
in their frontier forts but upon the legions, whose generals
commanded the frontiers as subordinates to the governor
of the province. From the legionary fortress came control
and supplies, and the legionaries constructed any large
engineering works, including, often enough, the frontier
forts. But the wide area of the frontier-lands discouraged
casual raiders and made their forays less serious. Good
military roads enabled the Roman governors to make full
use of their advantages in organised transport and to collect
their armies when real danger threatened. The risk of arriving
too late with help was not worth taking.
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