Mancunium
MANCUNIUM, the name often (though perhaps incorrectly) given as the Romano-British name of Manchester. Here, close to the Medlock, in the district still called Castlefield near Knott Mill, stood in Roman days a fort garrisoned by a cohort of Roman auxiliary soldiers. The site is now obscured by houses, railways and the Rochdale canal, but vestiges of Roman ramparts can still be seen, and other remains were found in 1907 and previous years. Traces of Romano-British inhabitation have been noted elsewhere in Manchester, especially near the cathedral. But there was no town here; we can trace nothing more than a fort guarding the roads running north through Lancashire and east into Yorkshire, and the dwellings of women-folk and traders which would naturally spring up outside such a fort. The ancient name is unknown. Our Roman authorities give both Mancunium and Mamucium, but it is not clear that either form is correct.
See W. T. Watkin's Roman Lancashire; C. Roeder's Roman Manchester, and the account edited by F. Bruton of the excavations in 1907. (F. J. H.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
