England · 1st century
Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. The fortress was built by the Legio II Adiutrix in the 70s AD as the Roman army advanced north against the Brigantes, and rebuilt completely over the next few decades by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix. In the early 3rd century the fortress was again rebuilt. The legion probably remained at the fortress until the late 4th or early 5th century, upon which it fell into disuse.
A civilian settlement, or canaba, grew around the fortress. Chester's Roman Amphitheatre, south-east of the fortress, is the largest-known military amphitheatre in Britain. The civilian settlement remained after the Romans departed, eventually becoming the present-day city of Chester. There were peripheral settlements around Roman Deva, including Boughton, the source of the garrison's water supply, and Handbridge, the site of a sandstone quarry and Minerva's Shrine. The shrine is the only in situ, rock-cut Roman shrine in Great Britain.
The fortress contained barracks, granaries, headquarters, military baths, and an unusual elliptical building which had it been finished may have been intended to act as the governor of Britain's headquarters.
Text adapted from “Deva Victrix” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castra Deva Victrix ranks #1,460 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #95 of the 360 mapped in England. Founded c. 75, it is older than 98% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 33 atlas entries founded in the 1st century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,674 times in the last 60 days, more than 81% of the atlas. 10 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Wrexham, 17 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →