Aldborough (known as Isurium Brigantum and founded around 74AD) was the capital town of the Brigantes tribe in Britain. They were the largest tribe in Britain at the time and had immersed themselves in the Roman way of life, giving rise to the town here in North Yorkshire near Boroughbridge. The site at Aldborough contains a small section of wall, a museum, and a couple of well-preserved floor mosaics.
There is a small museum at Aldborough Roman Site that has some of the Roman finds at the site. These include pottery, amphorae, decorated pieces of wall plaster and broken pottery, clothing fasteners and buckles, game pieces and a section of game board, keys, section of mosaic, glass, jewellery, lamps, and coins. The Helicon Mosaic is a small section of a floor mosaic from a town house dining room dating from the late 3rd or early 4th century. The writing on the mosaic refernces 'Helicon', the site of nine muses.
After exploring the museum, I had a walk around the section of the old wall. Most of the town remains buried in the fields.
The trail led to a couple of buildings set up to perserve the floor mosaics in situ so that visitors could look through.
One floor mosaic was in decent shape but slightly worn with missing tiles. The other remains in great condition.
Aldborough Roman Site is managed by English Heritage.
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