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 Caerleon Fort
The sleepy village of Caerleon belies its past life as a mighty Roman fortress, one of the key military bases in Roman occupied Britain.
 Caerleon Amphitheatre
Along with Chester and York , Caerleon or ‘City of the Legion’ was one of three main permanent Roman forts built to keep the natives in check. Established around AD75 this fortress of Isca was the headquarters of the Second Augustan Legion covering an area of about 50 acres and home to some 5,500 fighting men. Situated on the mouth of the river Usk the fortress could be readily supplied from the sea through the Bristol Channel.
Excavations have uncovered many Roman structures and pieced together life in the Legionary fortress of Isca. At Caerleon are the only remains of Roman legionary barracks on view anywhere in Europe, forming long narrow buildings with twelve pairs of rooms each pair housing eight men
Unearthed artefacts, from carved gemstones to weaponry, are housed in Caerleon’s museum alongside exhibitions outlining the story of the hard fought Roman occupation in this far flung corner of the empire and of a legionnaires life in the fortress.
The Roman baths were the hub of social life at the fortress and form a key exhibit for Caerleon. The painstaking excavations of the baths point to the ingenuity of Roman engineering with heated flooring in the changing rooms and elaborate plumbing systems. One of the highlights is a footprint in the clay left by a legionnaire 1,900 years ago.
The grass-covered foundations of the amphitheatre are a magnificent site. It is here at the oval shaped arena that legionaries would practice their fighting skills, gladiators would fight to the death and criminals would be fed to the wolves in front of a baying crowd of up to 6,000 spectators.
Later Caerleon was the place where early scholars such as Geoffrey of Monmouth believed King Arthur held the court of Camelot.
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