During 1976, crop-marks of ditches on the floor of the Tanat valley close to its confluence with the Vyrnwy were photographed by G. D. B. Jones. Two `camps? were distinguished (A and B), together with an associated linear ditch (C), but in 1990 after several seasons of excavation Site B was re-classified as a fort.

Limited excavations of Site A uncovered a shallow ditch backed by a box rampart, but otherwise little of archaeological significance in the small part of the interior that was examined. Work focussed on the entrance in what was considered to be the south-east side, where a gateway, seemingly a secondary feature represented by four large post-holes, had a titulum immediately in front of it. Radiocarbon dating of a burnt deposit in the titulum gave a date of between the 8th and 12th centuries, which raises questions about the nature of the entrance as a whole.

Site B lay immediately to the south of Site A, but any association was obscured by the complex geomorphology of the area. Two sides of the putative enclosure were visible, both less than 100m long and incomplete, with a minimum area of no more than 1.2 hectares (3 acres). The single ditch, sectioned in four places, was less than 1m deep, and had a timber-braced rampart behind it. No entrances could be distinguished. In the interior the post-holes of four barrack blocks were uncovered in the centre of the enclosure, with two more behind the north-east rampart.

Despite the extensive work at Abertanat, no material of unequivocal Roman date was recovered, and for a fort the defences of site B seem insubstantial. Since 1991 no further work has been undertaken on the site, but this will be necessary to determine various unresolved issues.

R.J. Silvester, CPAT, from Roman Frontiers publication, 2010.