It occupied a coastal site just north of the town of Maryport in the English county of Cumbria (formerly part of Cumberland).

[1] The Notitia Dignitatum lists a fort called Alione, garrisoned by the Cohors III Nerviorum, which has been equated with both Alauna and Alone by different scholars.

There are substantial remains of the Roman fort, which was one of a series along the Cumbrian coast intended to prevent Hadrian's Wall being outflanked by crossing the Solway Firth.

An archaeological dig discovered evidence of a second, earlier, larger fort next to, and partially under the present remains.

Recent excavations have shown that a nearby enclosure ditch related to a late Iron Age and Romano-British farmstead may even have supplied the fort with food, possibly in exchange for goods like pottery.

Covering 72.5 hectares (170 acres), it is the largest geophysical survey carried out on the northern Roman frontier.

The field system surrounding the vicus was extensive and showed small 'market garden' plots, some containing buildings.

One of the best known, now in the British Museum, has an inscription dedicated by Gaius Cornelius Peregrinus, a decurion (town councillor) from Saldae (present-day Bejaia in Algeria), who was tribunus (military commander) of the auxiliary garrison.